the gentle moon / george weasley

last one

'I'll meet you all there. I'm going to check up on him before you all head over.'

'When I say Lupin, I'm talking about you.' Moody reminded her, 'Can't have the lad backing out.'

"You slept in here?" August refused to look at Harry because she feared she would cry.

August looked around at the stacked shoes and umbrellas, thinking about how he used to wake every morning looking up at the underside of the staircase, maybe a few spiders in the corner.

"They gave me a real room when I came back from school." He said.

"Yeah, cause your legs grew..." August sighed, "Where are they now?"

"Dunno." He said, "Hestia and Dedalus left with them about an hour ago."

"Did they say goodbye at least?"

"Dudley did." Harry smiled at her when she turned from the cupboard. "He was actually nice for once."

There was a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere nearby. And the fact that August did not react, he knew it was nothing to fear. August walked to the back door, with Harry in foot. She opened the door, the darkness seemed to be rippling, the air itself quivering. Then, one by one, figures began to pop into sight as their Disillusionment Charms lifted. Dominating the scene was Hagrid, wearing a helmet and goggles and sitting astride an enormous motorbike with a black sidecar attached. All around him, other people were dismounting from brooms and, in two cases, skeletal, black-winged horses.

There was a general cry of greeting as Hermione flung her arms around him, Ron clapped him on the back, and Hagrid said, "All righ', Harry? Ready fer the off?"

"Definitely," said Harry, beaming around at them all. "But I wasn't expecting this many of you!"

"Change of plan," growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous, bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity. "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."

George leaned forward kissing August sweetly, they were staring at each other longingly, and that's when fear hit Harry. This was a new look between them.

"So what are we going to do?"

"We're going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use them: brooms, thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike." Moody limped around, handing Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur empty cups.

"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or"—Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen— "you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, with the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?"

Harry nodded. Harry turned to August, who was awkwardly looking at him.

"It wasn't that I never saw you guys as my real home." He told her, "I just knew it was never going to last with you and Jade... I knew Dumbledore would have sent me back even if Jade was still alive. I never let this house go if that was the case."

"It's okay." August swallowed hard, "I understand... It wasn't like you chose that time to come live with me. I did kidnap you."

Harry sadly smiled at her.

"So this time, when you leave, there'll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We've chosen to break it early because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen."