Chapter 2 (Ava)
I had only ever been to Privet Drive once, and it had been a very brief visit with Dumbledore to meet Harry for the first time.
It didn’t look very different when it was dark- a normal, muggle street full of houses. Harry would have been well concealed in a street that was this average.
As we turned to land in the garden of number four, our Disillusionment Charms wore off, and we could all see each other again.
Fred jumped off of the Thestral and reached a hand out to help me off as well. The moment my feet touched the grass, I realised how much nicer it felt to be on the ground rather than fifty metres in the air.
The back door to the house opened and Harry tumbled out into the garden.
“Harry!” I shouted, sprinting over to him and throwing my arms around his neck.
He laughed, “Ava, I didn’t expect you to come!”
“Well,” I pulled away, “It was fairly last minute- and it took lots of begging for Remus to let me.”
Hermione hugged him tightly too whilst Ron patted him on the back in greeting.
Hagrid called out, “All righ’, Harry? Ready fer the off?”
Harry nodded at everyone, “Definitely! I just wasn’t expecting this many of you!”
Mad-Eye stepped forwards, “Change of plan. Let’s get undercover before we talk you through it.”
Harry led us all into the kitchen, and we followed quickly, chattering amongst ourselves.
“So,” I asked, “How was the departure of the Dursleys? Did they leave without much complaint?”
“Dudley was strange… He shook my hand. He’s never done that.” Harry shook his head, confusion settling on his face.
I laughed, “Perhaps he finally felt guilty for all of the years of torture he gave you. Anyway, that was quite admirable, I suppose. Maybe he liked you all along?”
“I wouldn’t say all along…” He shrugged, and in the dim light of the kitchen I could suddenly see how much Harry had grown up. I had only met him two years before, but he had changed so much since then. In those two years he had lost Sirius and Dumbledore, and it had certainly had an effect on him.
He looked braver now- more determined. Maybe I hadn’t realised it over the past year, but my brother had become an adult.
I felt Fred’s arm brush against mine and I smiled as he and George appeared beside me.
I pushed myself up to sit on top of the work surface in the kitchen, and the twins followed suit.
“Muggles are so tidy.” George shook his head, glancing around at the kitchen, “If I’m honest, it looks a bit bare.”
“Well considering the Dursleys have just moved out, I’m not surprised that it’s bare.” I laughed.
Fred started to say something, but Mad-Eye shouted over the kitchen, cutting anyone off, “All right, all right, we’ll have time for a cosy catch-up later!”
Everyone fell silent and we all turned to look at Mad-Eye. He walked towards Harry, “As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He’s made it an imprisonable offence to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here or Apparate in and out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother’s charm does that already. What he’s really done is to stop you getting out of here safely.”
Harry looked as if he wanted to speak, but Mad-Eye carried on, “Second problem: you’re under-age, which means you’ve still got the Trace on you.”
“I don’t-” Harry started.
“The Trace, the Trace! The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about under-age magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters.” Mad-eye’s voice was low, but everyone still heard every word he said.
“We can’t wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you’ll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Puis Thicknesse thinks he’s got you cornered good and proper.”
“So what are we going to do?” Harry asked.
Mad-Eye sighed, “We’re going to use the 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. Now, your mother’s charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you’re never going to live together again, correct?”
Harry nodded, and I wondered to myself when my Trace had broken. Had it been when I had left the care home? Then again- I had never really felt that it was home.
“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’re choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen.”
Mad-Eye continued, “The one thing we’ve got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesn’t know we’re moving you tonight. We’ve leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: they think you’re not leaving until the thirtieth. However, this is You-Know-Who we’re dealing with, so we can’t just rely on him getting the date wrong; he’s bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area, just in case. So, we’ve given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place we’re going to hide you, they’ve all got some connections with the Order: my house, Kingsley’s place, Molly’s Auntie Muriel’s- you get the idea.”
“Yeah,” Harry muttered, although he looked as if he didn’t quite understand.
“You’ll be going to Tonks’s parents’. Once you’re within the boundaries of the protective enchantments we’ve put on their house, you’ll be able to use a Portkey to The Burrow. Any questions?”
“Er- yes,” Harry cleared his throat, “Maybe they don’t know which of the twelve secure houses I’m heading for at first, but won’t it be sort of obvious once… fifteen of us fly off towards Tonks’s parents?”
I caught Hermione’s eye from across the room and bit my lip- I knew Harry wasn’t going to like what would come next. Hermione turned her gaze to her best friend, her eyes filled with worry.
“Ah,” Moody began,” I forgot to mention the key point. Fourteen of us won’t be flying to Tonks’s parents’. There will be seven Harry Potters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house.”
Slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a flask of unfinished Polyjuice Potion. The moment Harry’s gaze fell on it, he shouted, “No! No way!”
I dropped my head and glanced down at my lap as Hermione sighed, “I told them you’d take it like this.”
Harry ignored her, “If you think I’m going to let six people risk their lives-”
“-because it’s the first time for all of us.” Ron muttered.
“This is different, pretending to be me-” Harry shook his head.
“Well,” Fred spoke loudly, “None of us really fancy it, Harry. Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever.”
Harry did not even smile, “You can’t do it if I don’t cooperate, you need me to give you some hair.”
“Well, that’s that plan scuppered. Obviously there’s no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate.” George shook his head.
“Yeah,” Fred sighed, “Fourteen of us against one bloke who’s not allowed to use magic; we’ve got no chance.”
Harry muttered, “Funny. Really amusing.”
Mad-Eye grumbled, “If it has to come to force, then it will. Everyone here’s over-age Potter, and they’re all prepared to take the risk. Let’s have no more arguments. Time’s wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now.”
“Harry,” I spoke up, finally raising my head to look at my brother, “We all chose to help you tonight. We’re choosing to risk our lives because we care about you- can’t that be our choice?”
Harry looked ready to explode, “But this is mad, there’s no need-”
Mad-Eye stood up, “No need! With You-Know-Who out there and half the ministry on his side? Potter, if we’re lucky, he’ll have swallowed the fake bait and he’ll be planning to ambush you on the thirtieth, but he’d be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out- it’s what I’d do. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother’s charm holds, but it’s about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even You-Know-Who can’t split himself into seven.”
When Harry didn’t say anything, Mad-Eye continued, “So, Potter, some of your hair, if you please.”
Ron pulled a face and Mad-Eye shouted, “Now!”
I winced and turned away as Harry reached up and pulled a few hairs out of his head.
“Good,” Mad-Eye looked satisfied, at last, “Straight in here, if you please.”
The moment Harry’s hair touched the Polyjuice Potion, smoke billowed out of it as bubbles formed, before it turned to a bright gold colour.
Hermione started to say something as I muttered to Fred, “That looks mildly more appetizing than I expected, I must admit.”
“I don’t expect the transformation process will be very nice though.” He replied quietly.
“Right then,” Mad-Eye called out, “Fake Potters line up over here, please.”
Ron, Hermione, Fleur, Fred and George got up and lined up in front of Mad-Eye.
Remus frowned, “We’re one short.”
Hagrid sighed, picked Mundungus up by his collar and dropped him at the end of the line. Mundungus shook his head, “I’ve toldjer, I’d sooner be a protector.”
Mad-Eye didn’t look pleased, “Shut it. As I’ve already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eaters we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. Dumbledore always said You-Know-Who would want to finish Potter in person. It’ll be the protectors who have the most to worry about, the Death Eaters’ll want to kill them.”
Mad-Eye pulled out six small glasses from a pocket inside his cloak and handed them to the six people. He then began to pour a small amount of Polyjuice Potion into each glass.
“Altogether, then…”
All six of them began to gasp as the potion started to take action already. Fred, George and Ron were shrinking to Harry’s height as their faces changed to resemble his while Hermione and Fleur’s hair was getting shorter as they shot up.
When they had finished, Harry was staring at them in disbelief as Mad-Eye opened a few sacks in which he’d put some clothes.
Fred and George turned to look at each other, “Wow- we’re identical!”
I spluttered out a laugh as Fred shrugged, “I dunno, though, I think I’m still better-looking.”
Fleur looked at her reflection in the microwave door and looked as if she were ready to gag, “Bah, Bill, don’t look at me- I’m ‘ideous.”
Mad-Eye threw the sacks down on the floor, “Those whose clothes are a bit roomy, I’ve got smaller here, and vice versa. Don’t forget the glasses, there’s six pairs in the side pocket. And when you’re dressed, there’s luggage in the other sack.”
I watched as everyone got changed into their clothes, and it looked rather peculiar. The real Harry was staring at them all with an expression of mild discomfort.
“Good,” Mad-Eye grumbled as they finished sorting ourselves out, “The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be travelling with me, by broom-”
“Why’m I with you?” Mundungus muttered.
Mad-Eye shook his head, “Because you’re the one that needs watching. Arthur and Fred-”
“I’m George. Can’t you even tell us apart when we’re Harry?” One of the Harrys sighed.
Mad-Eye shrugged, “Sorry, George-”
“I’m only yanking your wand, I’m Fred really-”
I tried to disguise my laugh with a cough as Mad-Eye growled, “Enough messing around! The other one- George or Fred or whoever you are- you’re with Remus. Miss Delacour-”
Bill cut Mad-Eye off, “I’m taking Fleur on a Thestral. She’s not that fond of brooms.”
“Miss. Granger and Miss. Potter with Kingsley, again by Thestral-”
I wasn’t quite sure who was Hermione until I spotted one of the Harrys grinning at me, looking relieved to have been put with me. I turned to look at Kingsley and he smiled.
Tonks stepped forwards, “Which leaves you and me, Ron!”
Hagrid cleared his throat nervously, “An’ you’re with me, Harry. That all righ’? We’ll be on the bike, brooms an’ Thestrals can’t take me weight, see. ‘Not a lot o’ room on the seat with me on it, though, so you’ll be in the sidecar.”
Harry nodded, “That’s great.” His facial expression said otherwise.
Mad-Eye turned to Harry, “We think the death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom. Snape’s had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he’s never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we’re betting they’ll choose one of the Potters who look at home on a broomstick.”
When Harry nodded, Mad-Eye turned to face everyone else, “All right then- I make it three minutes until we’re supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won’t keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking… Come on…”
Everyone began to file out of the kitchen, and I started to follow. I felt something tug on my sleeve and I turned to face one of the Harrys.
“It’s me,” he spoke, and I recognised his voice as Fred’s.
I smiled at him, “Well, you be safe out there. No testing out any Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes on the Death Eaters.”
Before he could say another word I threw my arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“Be safe,” He whispered in my ear, “Please.”
I started to reply but someone in the garden called my name out and I was forced to pull away.
I smiled apologetically at Fred before running out into the garden.
Remus was standing by the door, his hands in his pockets. As I approached him he raised his eyebrows and sighed, “Do you know what I’m going to say?”
I shrugged, “Don’t do anything stupid?”
“And be safe.” He sighed, “Kingsley will take care of you. I’ll see you at The Burrow.”
I nodded, “See you at The Burrow.”
Kingsley was standing by the Thestral, ready to help me get onto it. I thanked him as I settled down behind Hermione.
I felt nervous as I glanced around at everyone else getting ready to leave. This suddenly felt so real.
Mad-Eye turned to us all and shouted, “Good luck, everyone! See you all in about an hour at The Burrow. On the count of three. One…. Two… THREE!”
The Thestral’s wings began to flap, and we quickly rose from the ground. I suddenly wished as the wind blew my hair out into my face that I had thought to tie it up, but it was too late now.
I blinked once, and we were all separating already, rising higher and higher above Privet Drive.
I turned around quickly to see if I could spot Fred flying off, and my heart stopped, the breath caught in my throat.
We were surrounded by thirty Death Eaters with their hoods up and hands on their wands.
For a moment, everything was silent.
Then chaos began.