~
The Death-Eaters attacked almost the second Eleanora and Bill were in the sky. Eleanora heard a shout from somewhere to her right, and then a jet of red light narrowly missed her head. "They're early," Bill muttered in her ear, reaching for his wand.
"You hold them off, I'll try and steer us away."
"Away?!" Bill said, dismayed. "But-"
"To lead them away from Harry. Just-" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence because another spell had almost hit Bill in the chest.
Eleanora guided the thestral down rapidly and felt Bill's left hand clench around the fabric of her t-shirt. She heard him shouting spells at rapid-fire speed, but the commotion never died away. Eleanora pulled out her own wand and shot a stunning spell into the distance, but mainly focused on keeping them just close enough to distract the Death-Eaters from the real Harry, but far enough away to keep him out of harm.
Eleanora dove further towards the main battle, tearing her eyes from the air in front of her to stun a hooded figure who had appeared near them. The figure toppled off their broom, and Eleanora felt a stab of regret in her chest. The number of people she knew who were now Death-Eaters, who could've been that person... She didn't want to think about it.
"Left!" Bill called, and Eleanora careened the thestral to the left. She felt her hair start to grow long again and her body uncomfortably shrink back to its regular size. Had it been an hour already? Bill's left hand still gripped her shirt while his right was engaged in battle with a hooded figure who didn't seem at all as willing to give up as the one Eleanora had knocked out.
"Marks!" Moody and Mundungus had caught up to their thestral and were flying level to them on the other side of Bill's duel, both looking grim.
"Things aren't exactly going- as according to plan, Mad-Eye," Bill shouted over his shoulder, throwing a hex towards the Death-Eater at the same time with frightening accuracy.
"Thanks for the update, Weasley," Moody roared over the sound of the wind blowing in their ears. "Listen, we've been compromised! I need you two to find Lupin- he'll- watch it!"
Just then, the Death-Eater Bill had been fighting with moved out of the way to make room for yet another figure, a more shadowy, dark one with a face as white as snow. Eleanora felt as though her heart had dropped out of her chest and fallen the whole way to the ground. Voldemort shot a jet of green light out of his wand that missed both Bill and Eleanora, hurtling straight towards Moody and Mundungus. "Protego!" Eleanora shouted, but to no avail.
There was a yelp and a pop and Mundungus disapparated at the same moment as the green light hit Moody square in the face. "No!" Eleanora screamed, reaching so far out to try and grab at Moody that she almost fell off the thestral. Bill sent a jet of blue light towards the Death-Eater and knocked him clean off his broom before wrapping a protective arm around Eleanora's middle. Eleanora kept her wand at the ready, prepared to fight the Dark Lord if she had to, but he seemed to spot something more worthy of fighting and disappeared into the darkness.
"Careful," Bill said. His voice was hoarse as he stared bleakly down at the darkness in which Moody had fallen.
"We have to go after him!" Eleanora shouted, her voice cracking as she guided the thestral towards the ground at alarming speed. "He might- we have to-" Tears stung her eyes and she was finding it more and more difficult to speak.
"Eleanora," Bill said in a choked voice. He was blinking tears out of his eyes too. "He's g-" he paused to clear his throat, "he's gone."
"No-"
"We have to get back to my parent's house."
"No!"
Bill's face fell into Eleanora's shoulder and she felt his chest heave ever so slightly against her back. "El- come on-"
~
Eleanora and Bill made it back to the Burrow unscathed, and by the time they got there they'd both stopped crying. They slid off of the back of the thestral and addressed the group. "Oh! Thank God, thank God —" Mrs. Weasley ran forward, but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory.
Looking directly at his father, he said, "Mad-Eye's dead." Nobody spoke, nobody moved. Mrs. Weasley had moved to hug Eleanora after Bill but her hand hung in mid-air as if frozen.
"We saw it," said Eleanora, struggling to keep her voice steady.
"It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort — he can fly — went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he Disapparated. Voldemort's curse hit Mad-Eye full in the face, he fell backward off his broom and — there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail —" Bill's voice broke.
"Of course you couldn't have done anything," said Lupin.
In silence, they all followed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back into the Burrow, and into the living room, where Fred and George were laughing together. The first thing Eleanora noticed, though, was the pool of blood staining the couch where George was lying. Her eyes widened and she hurried to his side. "What happened? Who did this?"
"Your goddamn godfather," George murmured, his mouth twitching in amusement.
Eleanora took only a second to process. "What? George, it's not funny-"
"Oh, you should've heard him earlier," said Fred, "He said he was holy. Get it? Holy- what's wrong?" He had just looked up and scanned the faces of the others who had entered the room. "What's happened? Who's — ?"
"Mad-Eye," said Mr. Weasley. "Dead." The twins' grins turned to grimaces of shock. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Tonks was crying silently into a handkerchief: She had been close to Mad-Eye, his favorite and his protégée at the Ministry of Magic.
"Mad-Eye?" a small voice echoed from the corner. Daisy was standing at the bottom of the steps in her pajamas, her long blonde hair tumbling around her shoulders and a look of shock on her face. "Dead?"
"Oh, Dais..." Lupin stepped forward to hug the girl, who had put a tremorous hand to her mouth.
Bill walked over to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of firewhisky and some glasses. "Here," he said, and with a wave of his wand he sent twelve full glasses soaring through the room to each of them, holding the thirteenth aloft. "Mad-Eye."
"Mad-Eye," they all said, and drank. Eleanora felt the firewhisky burn her throat as it went down, but it felt good compared to the feeling of watching Moody's lifeless body spiral towards the ground.
"So Mundungus disappeared?" said Lupin, who had drained his own glass in one. The atmosphere changed at once. Everybody looked tense, watching Lupin, both wanting him to go on, and slightly afraid of what they might hear.
"I know what you're thinking," said Bill, "and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skullduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Whowent straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."
"Always a coward," Eleanora muttered.
"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to," sniffed Tonks. "Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley. . . ."
"That's why he left me and Bill," Eleanora said. "I think I was transformed back at that point, and he knew Harry wouldn't be with us anyways."
"Right." Bill nodded.
"But it still doesn't explain how they knew, you know?" Eleanora continued, squinting at the ground in concentration. "I mean, they knew exactly when and how we moved him- someone had to have let it slip." There was an uncomfortable silence as everyone carefully avoided each other's gaze. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccuping from behind his handkerchief.
"No," Harry said aloud, and they all looked at him, surprised. "I mean . . . if somebody made a mistake," Harry went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault," he repeated, again a little louder than he would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort." More silence followed his words.
"Well said, Harry," said Fred unexpectedly.
"Yeah, 'ear, 'ear," said George, with half a glance at Fred, the corner of whose mouth twitched. Lupin was wearing an odd expression as he looked at Harry. It was close to pitying.
"You think I'm a fool?" demanded Harry.
"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin, Daisy still close at his side, "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends." Lupin turned away from Harry, set down his glass upon a side table, and addressed Bill and Eleanora in the other corner of the room, "There's work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether —"
"No," said Bill at once, "I'll do it, I'll come."
"Where are you going?" said Tonks and Eleanora together.
"Mad-Eye's body," said Lupin. "We need to recover it."
"Can't it — ?" began Mrs. Weasley with an appealing look at Bill.
"Wait?" said Bill. "Not unless you'd rather the Death Eaters took it?" He turned to Eleanora and pulled her into a tight one-armed hug. "I love you, okay?" he murmured in her ear. "It'll be okay."
"Stay safe. Be really careful and stay close to Remus." Eleanora gave his a warning look and then gave him a short but soft kiss. "I love you too."
With that, Remus and Bill left. The rest of them now dropped into chairs, all except for Harry, who remained standing. Daisy crawled into a seat next to Eleanora and laid her head on her shoulder. Eleanora wrapped her arms around her little sister, wishing she could protect her from the sadness and darkness of the situation. She didn't want Daisy to ever have to deal with anything as sudden and tragic as this.
"I've got to go too," said Harry. Ten pairs of startled eyes looked at him.
"Don't be silly, Harry," said Mrs. Weasley. "What are you talking about?"
"I can't stay here." He rubbed his forehead. "You're all in danger while I'm here. I don't want —"
"But don't be so silly!" said Mrs. Weasley. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness it worked. And we've got Eleanora and Bill's wedding in just days and —"
"If Voldemort finds out I'm here —"
"But why should he?" asked Mrs. Weasley. "There are a dozen places you might be now, Harry," said Mr. Weasley. "He's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."
"It's not me I'm worried for!" said Harry.
"We know that," said Mr. Weasley quietly, "but it would make our efforts tonight seem rather pointless if you left."
"Yer not goin' anywhere," growled Hagrid. "Blimey, Harry, after all we wen' through ter get you here?"
"Yeah, what about my bleeding ear?" said George, hoisting himself up on his cushions. "I know that —"
"Mad-Eye wouldn't want —" Eleanora started.
"I KNOW!" Harry bellowed. There was a long silence in which Eleanora tightened her hold on Daisy. She wanted to send her to bed to get her out of the discussion, but she knew it wasn't fair.
Mrs. Weasley was the first to break the silence. "Where's Hedwig, Harry?" she said coaxingly. "We can put her up with Pigwidgeon and give her something to eat."
Harry didn't answer, but everyone got the message. He drank the last of his firewhisky and avoided eye-contact. "Wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Harry," said Hagrid. "Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!"
"It wasn't me," said Harry flatly. "It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."
After a few moments, Hermione said gently, "But that's impossible, Harry. You mean that you did magic without meaning to; you reacted instinctively."
"No," said Harry. "The bike was falling, I couldn't have told you where Voldemort was, but my wand spun in my hand and found him and shot a spell at him, and it wasn't even a spell I recognized. I've never made gold flames appear before."
Eleanora rubbed at her forehead, unable to process anything else that evening. It was all too much. "Often," said Mr. Weasley, "when you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained —"
"It wasn't like that," said Harry through gritted teeth.
There was a long silence, and then Eleanora noticed Daisy had fallen asleep in her arms. She caught Fred's eye and nodded down at her sister. Fred got the message and stood up immediately, gently wrapping his arms around Daisy and lifting her without waking her up. "Goodnight everyone," Eleanora murmured, following Fred up the stairs.