The Other Potter (George Weasley)

Thirty-Three.

The others had to stay while Ollivander got his strength back to travel. We had one more surprise visitor, Lupin. I wasn’t expecting to see him, and honestly I didn’t know what to expect from him after the last time I saw him. He had seemed to let it go, he was hugging Harry tightly, all seemed to be forgiven and forgotten. I looked at him, and his eyes caught mine and we stared at each other for a good moment. Ron's hand pressed to my back and shoved me forward and my feet didn’t stop until I reached my Godfather and my arms threw around him. He hugged me back, tightly.
   
“I’m sorry,” I tell him as we hug.
   
“No, no,” Lupin says quickly, “Don’t be sorry, I’m sorry. If it weren’t for your wake up call, I wouldn’t have gone back to Tonks. I owe it to you. My son will have a proper father because of you. So, thank you, darling.”
   
“Son?” I ask, tears in my eyes, “She’s having a boy?”
   
“She had a boy,” he corrects, “Just a few days ago now.” A roar of congratulations echoed through the kitchen.  “We named him Teddy, after Dora’s father. Teddy Remus Lupin.”
   
“I can’t wait to meet him,” I say, giving him another hug. Then he asked Harry and I to be Teddy’s godparents, to which we both accepted.
   
We spent another few weeks here. Ollivander told Harry that the Hollows were true, and Griphook agreed to help us sneak into Gringotts into the Lestrange’s vault. Harry had figured out that the Goblet of Hufflepuff was hidden there. We had to make sure our plan was perfect before we left. 
   
Griphook wanted the sword for payment of helping us, to which Harry agreed. Our plan was simple on paper, but if we messed anything up, it was going to be disastrous. Hermione was going to use the last of the Polyjuice potion to turn into Bellatrix, who had left a hair on her sweater. Harry would stay under the cloak with Griphook, and Hermione did magic on Ron and I to change our features.
   
We left before anyone saw us leave, and we had told them not to get up to say goodbye to us either. We made it to the bank with no issues. Harry had to use the Imperius Curse on the goblins to get them to let us into the vault, which wasn’t part of the plan. They knew there were intruders as soon as we got to the vault. We found the cup of Hufflepuff, but we couldn’t touch it. Every time we tried to touch anything metal it multiplied and burned us. Eventually, Hermione used a lifting charm on Harry and we got the goblet.
   
Griphook sold us out to the Gringotts workers when we exited the vault, and he had the sword of Gryffindor in his hands as he ran away from us. They tried to sick their dragon on us but Hermione, who was starting to turn back into herself, and I did some spells and got him free of his chains and that’s how we got out. The only problem is that we now had a Horcrux and no way to destroy it.
   
We flew overhead for a few hours, not knowing exactly where we were or how much longer we were going to be airborne. It was dusk when the dragon started to get lower and lower. Harry shouted that we should leave. So we jumped off the dragon’s back.
   
We all lay on the grass panting as we watch the big creature soar above us. We were just the first people in history to ever break into Gringotts and be successful at it. We sat there, on the grass, as Harry started to put up the protection charms. We started putting the essence of Dittany on our burns and watched them heal. Harry let his connection with Voldemort take over for a moment, and when he came back he knew exactly where the last Horcrux was.
   
“He knows!” He called. “He knows, and he’s going to check where the others are, and the last one is at Hogwarts. I knew it. I knew it!”
   
Ron was now gaping at him, Hermione looked worried.
   
“But what did you see?” I asked, “How do you know?”
   
“I  saw him find out about the cup, I – I was in his head he’s – he’s seriously angry, and scared, too, he can’t understand how we knew, and now he’s going to check to see if the others are safe, the rings first. He thinks the Hogwarts one is the safest, because Snape’s there, because it’ll be so hard not to be seen getting in, I think he’ll check that one last, but he could still be there within hours – ”
   
“Did you see where in Hogwarts it is?” Asks Ron.
   
“No, he was concentrating on warning Snape, he didn’t think about exactly where it is – ”
   
“Wait, wait,” cried Hermione as Harry pulled out the cloak again. “We can’t just go, we haven’t got a plan –”
   
“We need to get going,” said Harry firmly. “Can you imagine what he’s going to do once he realizes the ring and the locket are gone? What if he moves the Hogwarts Horcrux, deciding it’s not safe enough?”
   
“But how are we going to get in?” Asks Hermione.
   
“We’ll go to Hogsmeade,” says Harry, “and try to work something out once we see what the protection around school’s like. Get under the cloak, Hermione, I want to stick together this time.”
   
“But we won’t all fit – ”
   
“It will be dark, no one is going to notice our feet.”
   
The flapping of the enormous cloak echoed across the black water: the dragon had drunk it’s fill and risen into the air. Hermione walked over to us, and Harry pulled the cloak down as far as it would go, and together we turned the spot into the crushing darkness until our feet landed in Hogsmeade.
   
The sound of one hundred cats screeching started a moment after we landed, and a group of Death eaters came out to see what was going on. We were saved by the barman of the Hog's Head Pub, who was close enough to see our feet and told us to get into his pub. He came in a moment later, telling us to get upstairs.
   
When we get upstairs we see that he has a mirror with a piece missing out of it. Harry puts it together that the man is Aberforth Dumbledore, Dumbledore’s younger brother, and that it was his eye he has been seeing in the piece of the mirror Sirius had given him, not his brother’s. He sent Dobby to the Malfoy’s, he saved us.
   
Aberforth brings us some food and  tea, and then he tells us to leave, saying that we are fools. Harry tells him he’s on his brother's orders, which only makes Aberforth scoff. He said his brother was a fool to trust teenagers to do his bidding, that our job was too dangerous. He tells us to forget the job and go and save ourselves, but we tell him we won’t do that. To that Aberforth said, “Funny thing, how many of the people my brother cared about very much ended up in a worse state than if he’d left them alone.”
   
We ask him what he means by that, and he just looks at the portrait of Ariana, his sister, hanging on the wall. He tells us the story of her life. She was attacked for doing magic by three Muggles, and she repressed her magic from that day on. Their father killed the three boys, and did life in Azkaban for it. That’s when their mother moved the family to Godric’s Hollow, and kept Ariana inside because she had outbursts of magic when she got too overwhelmed or angry. It was because of one of those outbursts that killed their mother. Then, even though Aberforth said he’d take care of her, Albus insisted on coming home. That’s when he met Gellert Grindelwald.
   
They decided to track down the Deathly Hallows together, and they were going to bring Ariana with them while they did this. Aberforth told them that she was unfit for travel, but Albus wouldn’t hear it. It turned into a fight between the three boys that upset Ariana, and she had an outburst that killed her.
   
“I’m so…I’m so sorry,” says Hermione, who was in tears by the end of this.
   
“We need to get to Hogwarts,” says Harry, “if you can’t help us, we’ll wait for daybreak, but we’re going no matter what.”
   
Aberforth turned to the portrait of his sister and says, “It is time,” and she nods and starts walking out of the portrait not like other paintings do, but she walks into the tunnel, and returns a minute later and the painting moves, swinging open like a little door in a wall, and Neville Longbottom pops out.
   
“I knew you’d come, Harry!” He cries out, “I knew it!”
   
We thanked Aberforth for the tea and the food and we left with Neville, and he tells us about life at Hogwarts since we have left as we walk down a dark tunnel with him. Snape doesn’t really leave his office much, it’s the Carrow twins that are terrible. They are making the students practice the Cruciatus curse on first years and they get beat and punished when they refuse to, which most of them do. It’s only the Slytherin’s that are up to the disgusting task.
   
He also tells us how he, Ginny, and Luna tried to keep the D.A. going, but it didn’t really work. He said that with Luna not coming back after Christmas and with Ginny not coming after Easter it was hard to keep meetings going. He was so brave, he was not the scared boy we met during our first year anymore. He was growing into a fine young man. I was so impressed by him, and everything he’s done this year.
   
Neville leads us into the Room of Requirement, it looked much larger than it did when we had D.A. meetings here. Multicolored hammocks were strung from the ceiling from a balcony that ran the dark wood-paneled and windowless walls, which were covered in bright tapestry hangings: I saw the gold Gryffindor lion emblazoned on scarlet, the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw on royal blue, and lastly I saw the black badger of Hufflepuff on yellow. We were all greeted by cheers and hellos.
   
That’s when Luna Lovegood walked through the tunnel door saying, “I got your message, Neville, I thought you four would be here.”
   
“How did you get here?” Asks Harry.
   
“Neville sent a message on the D.A. coins,” she says, casually.
   
“The D.A. coins?” I ask, curiously.
   
“Yeah,” says Neville nodding and smiling proud, “I told her I’d send for her if you came back. I figured if you did come back it would mean revolution.”
   
“Did someone say Revolution?” Two nearly identical voices singsong together. Tears fill my eyes at the sight of the twins. I knew they were both alive, but to see them both standing here in front of me was overwhelming. George takes one look at me and then he is walking my way and he hugs me, keeping his arms tightly wrapped around my shoulders as Lee Jordan and Ginny walk through the hole.
   
"It's good to see you're alive," he says as we hug.
   
"I know," I tell him, "I've missed you much."
   
"Did you see that?" Asked Ron, "He walked right past me like I wasn't here. I'm only his brother."
   
"Oh shut it," says Fred, "You try being apart from the love of your life as long as they have and you tell me you wouldn't react the same way."
   
George lets go of me after a long moment of hugging. I stand behind Harry. That’s when Harry takes control again as everyone gathers around us. “Guys, you’ve got it all wrong. We’re not here to fight. We’re here to find something. Something very important. But, we don’t know what it is, just that it belonged to Rowena Ravenclaw. Does anyone know what that could be?”
   
“Is what you’re looking for going to help overthrow You-Know-Who?” Asked Fred, curiously.
   
“Yes,” Says Harry, but that’s all that he would tell them. “Does anyone know anything that was of importance to Rowena Ravenclaw?”
   
“There’s the lost Diadem,” says Luna, dreamily. “But no one in living memory has ever seen it.”
   
“What the bloody hell is a Diadem?” Asks Ron from behind Harry.
   
“It’s like a crown,” says Hermione. “Or a tiara.”
   
“If you’d like to see what it looks like, Harry, I could take you up to our common room and show you. Ravenclaw’s wearing it in her statue,” says Cho Chang, Harry’s ex-girlfriend from fifth year.
   
“Luna can take him, won’t you, Luna,” pipes up Ginny.
   
“I’d love to,” says Luna, happily.
   
“It’s the best shot we got,” says Harry, shrugging. He and Luna put the cloak on and he and Luna leave the room together. A few moments later, Ron and Hermione leave for the Chamber of Secrets as well, saying they need to get Basilisk fangs.
   
The Weasley family and the entire Order of the Phoenix came in through the portrait hole then.
   
“Savannah,” says George, “Shouldn’t you have gone with Harry? If what he needs is so important.”
   
“We wouldn’t have all fit under the cloak,” I say, “We would have been seen. I’m surprised Ron and Hermione left when they did. They’re in so much trouble if they’re caught.”
   
“Oh no,” says Mrs. Weasley, clutching onto her husband.
   
“They’ll be alright though,” I say, “I’ve watched both of them fight. They’ve both improved so much. They’ll be fine. I just don’t want them to be caught is all.”
   
More people start to enter through the tunnel then. Harry’s old Quidditch Captain’s Oliver Wood and Angelina Johnson enter first, followed by Katie Bell, and Alicia Spinnet, and many more members of the D.A. that have since left Hogwarts all come to our aid. It was so nice of them, but it was certainly not what we needed from them. I was glad to see them show up for us though.
   
That’s when the heads of house of Professor Sprout, Flitwick, and McGonagall all enter the room with Harry and Luna yelling about how we needed to get to the Great Hall now to evacuate because Hogwarts is under attack and the Professors are going to put some protection charms over the school but it will only hold them off temporarily. I stay behind with the Weasley’s and the Order. “Come on, Luna,” Dean calls to her and takes her hand and runs off with her to the Great Hall.
   
Mrs. Weasley starts on Ginny, telling her to go home, and Ginny is not having it, saying she wants to fight. Then she rounds in on the twins, saying that they shouldn’t have let her come. Eventually, Mrs. Weasley said she could stay in the Room of Requirement, but that she was not allowed to leave it under any circumstances whatsoever, Ginny agreed to this because at least she’d still be allowed to be here.
   
That’s when another surprise exited the tunnel, Percy Weasley. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he says with a smile on his face. “I only just found out, so I – I – ”
   
There was a deafening silence in the room as we all looked at him. It wasn’t until Fleur broke it, saying, “So, how is little Teddy,” to Lupin.
   
“Oh, yeah, he’s fine,” he says, sounding proud. “Tonks is staying with him tonight. Here, I’ve got a picture now.” He pulls the photo out of his jacket pocket, and I rush over to him to see it. He was so cute, he looked like Lupin. I couldn’t wait to meet him.
   
“I was a fool!” Roared Percy, getting the attention again. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a – a –”
   
“A Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron,” says Fred.
   
“Exactly,” says Percy, nodding. “I was.”
   
“Well, you can’t say any fairer than that,” says George, holding out his hand to him and the brother’s shake. Mrs. Weasley burst into tears and hugged her son, while he patted her on the back and eyed his father.
   
“I’m sorry, dad,” he says. Mr. Weasley blinked rather rapidly, then he too hurried to hug his son.
   
We leave Ginny safe in the room then and head to the Great Hall. Everyone was sitting at their respective house tables. Lupin and Kingsley took to the stage with Professor McGonagall, standing behind her. I sat with the Weasley family at the Gryffindor table. Harry right next to me, George on my other side.
   
A girl at the Slytherin table asked where Professor Snape went, and Professor McGonagall said he has been sacked and the entire tables of Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw erupted in cheers at the sound of it, but the Slytherin table stayed silent.
   
“We have already placed protection around the castle,” said Professor McGonagall, “But it’s unlikely to hold for very long unless we reinforce it. I must ask you, therefore, to move quickly and calmly, and do as your Prefects – ”
   
Her last words were drawn out by a different voice. It was cold, high-pitched, and clear. There was no telling where it came from; it seemed to issue from the walls themselves. Like the monster it commanded, it might have lain dormant for centuries.
   
“I know you are preparing to fight,” the voice said, “Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood. Give me Harry Potter, and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until Midnight.”
   
Silence fell in the hall. Every eye in the place was now on Harry at the Gryffindor table. Then a figure rose from the Slytherin table, and the voice of Pansy Parkinson shouted, “He’s there! Right there! Someone grab him!”
   
I shot up out of my seat, pointing my wand and shouted, “Stupefy!” at her and she blasted backwards. All the eyes were on me now, so I take full advantage of it. “If anyone wants to get to Harry they go through me first! You got that? You Slytherins do not scare me!”
   
“Savannah!” Harry hisses at me, tugging on my arm to get me to sit down, I don’t. George looks at me with a big, proud smile on his face.
   
“They go through me, too!” Says Neville standing up now too.
   
“Thank you very much, Miss Potter and Mr. Longbottom, but that won’t be necessary.” Says Professor McGonagall, calmly. “Filch, take the Slytherins first. Anyone who is of age may stay and fight either with us or against us, it’s your call to make, and I suggest you make it quick.”
   
“And she is your girlfriend, Georgie?” Asks Percy, sounding thoroughly impressed as I sat back down at the table.
   
“Eventually she will be again," says George, "she’s awesome isn’t she?” Retorts George, a smile evident in his tone.

______________
They're reunited at last!!

The next chapter is the final chapter and then there will be one short epilogue.

It is probably the saddest thing I've ever written so prepare yourself.

-Emily Winchester.