Harry and Amelia Potter

7.3

Arthur Weasley, trailed by the others, stops dead. Molly looks up, her face saying it all. Fred comes up on his father's shoulder, eyes stinging with tears as he sees his brother. As if sensing them, George stirs.

"How do you feel, Georgie?" Fred asks him.

"Saint-like." He says quietly.

"Come again?"

George opens his eyes, lifts a blood-crusted finger, and points to the dark cavity in the side of his skull. "Saint-like... You see, I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"

"With the whole wide world of ear-related humor at your disposal, you go for holey? Pathetic." Fred lets out a laugh. I can't help but laugh a little too.

"Reckon I'm still better-looking than you. Better-looking than Bill, that's for sure." Bill doesn't smile. Next to him, Fleur looks equally grim.

"Mad-Eye's dead." The room goes still. "Mundungus took one look at Voldemort and Disapparated."

"Mad-Eye reckoned You-Know-Who would expect the real Harry and Amelia to be with the most skilled Auror. He knew he'd be in the most danger." Lupin informs us. I look down in grief.

"It doesn't explain how they knew we were moving Harry and Mia tonight." The room grows quiet. Eyes shift.

"Wha'? One of us? Tha's mad. I'd wager me life it wasn' none of you lot. An' if it was me I'd kno', wouldn' I? Talk in me sleep on occasion, I'll admit, but there's only Fang aroun' ter hear an' mostly it's gibberish an' besides I'd cut me tongue out 'fore 'd betray 'arry an Mia e'en in me dreams-" Hagrid stops, blinking miserably. Suddenly, all smile. "Wha's so funny!"

"We trust you with our lives, Hagrid." Harry tells him.

"We trust everyone in this room. Understood?" I ask and they all nod.

"Understood." Lupin says, placing his arm around me and giving me a side hug.

"'Ear, 'ear." George says, trying to lighten the mood. Fred nods approvingly to his brother.

"Better."

"I wouldn't say that." I laugh and the room laughs with me.

Later that night, Harry and I pack the essentials in a rucksack that I had Hermione charm awhile back.

"This is the best thing, Mia." Harry says to me as we finish packing. "Right?"

"We can't keep asking everyone to risk their lives for us like this. We have to go on alone." I tell him. He nods.

We emerge into the night, shifting the rucksack as we eye the reeds shifting eerily in the darkness.

"Going somewhere?"

Harry and I stiffen, and turn to meet Ron's accusatory gaze, then continue on.

"No one else is going to die. Not for us." I tell him.

"For you? You think Madeye died for you? You think George took that curse for you? You may be the Chosen Ones, mates, but this is a whole lot bigger than that." He says. I'm taken aback by his words. I mean he's right.

Harry stares at Ron. The air is tense. "Come with us."

"And leave Hermione? Are you mad? We wouldn't last two days without her." He says, then glances back to the burrow. "Don't tell her I said that." Then he looks back to us. "Besides, you've both still got the Trace on you. And there's the wedding..."

"Wedding?" Harry questions.

"Bill and Fleur. Mum's been planning it for months. Only thing that's kept her sane, I reckon. She'll kill me if I miss it. Kill you two, too. Rather go face to face with You-Know-Who if I'm honest." Ron tries a smile, but I  look foul.

"I don't care about a bloody wedding, no matter whose it is. We have to start searching for the Horcruxes. It's the only chance we have to beat him. And the longer we wait the stronger he gets." I say.

Ron just stares at Harry and I, calm, poised. "Tonight's not the night, mates. You'd only be doing him a favor."

Harry and I stare at Ron, incensed by his cool demeanor and common sense. Finally, I turn away, tossing the rucksack in frustration. For a moment we stand like this, my back to Ron and Harry. Silent. Finally Ron speaks.

"Do you think he knows?" I turn my head halfway, but don't speak. "I mean, they're bits of his soul, the Horcruxes. Bits of him. When Dumbledore destroyed the ring and you destroyed Tom Riddle's diary all those years ago, he must've felt something right?"

Harry and I ponder this, but remain silent.

"What I'm saying is, if we do this thing right, if we find the Horcruxes and begin to destroy them one by one... Won't he know he's being hunted?" Still Harry and I say nothing. Silence descends once more.