XCVII. FALLEN SOLDIER
21:79 ─❁────────── 31:80
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❝Come with me
Raise the glass take hold of the future❞
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WHEN SOMEONE BELIEVES THAT THEIR life was worth living, they would try their hardest to live... right?
But when you were balancing yourself on a tightrope that separated life and death, you've no actual idea whether whatever you choose would be the best for you. And that was perhaps a predicament Lucia was facing as everything that surrounded her was like an abyss of suffocation with only two path ways with the same scenery, yet would lead to two different fate.
Which one would she choose?
Harry couldn't help but wondered about that aimlessly as he soon found himself in the secure surroundings of the Burrow that he and Hagrid had thankfully travelled alive through the portkey from Ted Tonks and his wife, who scarily looked uncanny to Bellatrix Lestrange, Andromeda Tonks.
He heard screams that snapped him out of his daze. Throwing aside the no longer glowing hairbrush, Harry stood up, swaying slightly, and saw Mrs. Weasley and Ginny running down the steps by the back door as Hagrid, who had also collapsed on landing, clambered laboriously to his feet.
"Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" cried Mrs. Weasley.
"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Harry panted, paling.
The answer was clearly etched in Mrs. Weasley's pale face.
"The Death Eaters were waiting for us," Harry told her. "We were surrounded the moment we took off — they knew it was tonight — I don't know what happened to anyone else, four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us —"
He could hear the self-justifying note in his voice, the plea for her to understand why he didn't know what had happened to her sons, but —
"Thank goodness you're all right," she said, pulling him into a hug he did not feel he deserved.
"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" asked Hagrid a little shakily. "Fer medicinal purposes?"
She could've summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, Harry knew that she wanted to hide her face. He turned to Ginny, and she answered his unspoken plea for information at once.
"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," she said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," she pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second —"
"What about Lucia, Hermione and the others?" asked Harry quickly.
Ginny's face fell, grim. Harry's heart drop. "Erin and Lucia were supposed to come right after Dad and Fred, but..." she turned her gaze, and Harry followed suit, but he regretted ever doing so as his eyes immediately laid rest upon a worn-out golden baton. "They missed their portkey..."
Harry felt his world slowly stop as horror enveloped his mind. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid. This was exactly why he didn't want this plan to become a thing in the first place —
"— you and Hagrid were fourth and," she checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."
Mrs. Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.
"Mum!" shouted Ginny, pointing to a spot several feet away.
A blue light had appeared in the darkness: It grew larger and brighter, and Lupin and George appeared, spinning, and then falling. Harry knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.
Harry ran forward and seized George's legs. Together, he and Lupin carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the sitting room, where they laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped, and Harry's stomach lurched: One of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.
No sooner had Mrs. Weasley bent over her son than Lupin grabbed Harry by the upper arm and dragged him, none too gently, back into the kitchen, where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door.
"Oi!" said Hagrid indignantly. "Le' go of him! Le' go of Harry!"
Lupin ignored him.
"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" he said, giving Harry a small shake. "Answer me!"
"A — a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"
Lupin released Harry and fell back against a kitchen cupboard.
"Wha' was tha' about?" roared Hagrid.
"I'm sorry, Harry, but I had to check," said Lupin tersely. "We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew that you were being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been an impostor."
"So why aren' you checkin' me?" panted Hagrid, still struggling to fit through the door.
"You're half-giant," said Lupin, looking up at Hagrid. "The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."
"None of the Order would have told Voldemort we were moving tonight," said Harry. The idea was dreadful to him, he could not believe it of any of them. "Voldemort only caught up with me toward the end, he didn't know which one I was in the beginning. If he'd been in on the plan, he'd have known from the start I was the one with Hagrid."
"Voldemort caught up with you?" said Lupin sharply. "What happened? How did you escape?"
Harry explained briefly how the Death Eaters pursuing them had seemed to recognize him as the true Harry, how they had abandoned the chase, how they must have summoned Voldemort, who had appeared just before he and Hagrid had reached the sanctuary of Tonks's parents.
"They recognized you? But how? What had you done?"
"I..." Harry tried to remember; the whole journey seemed like a blur of panic and confusion. "I saw Stan Shunpike... You know, the bloke who was the conductor on the Knight Bus? And I tried to Disarm him instead of — well, he doesn't know what he's doing, does he? He must be Imperiused!"
Lupin looked aghast.
"Harry, the time for Disarming is past! These people are trying to capture and kill you! At least Stun if you aren't prepared to kill!"
"We were hundreds of feet up! Stan's not himself, and if I Stunned him and he'd fallen, he'd have died the same as if I'd used Avada Kedavra! Expelliarmus saved me from Voldemort two years ago," Harry added defiantly. Lupin was reminding him of the sneering Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith, who had jeered at Harry for wanting to teach Dumbledore's Army how to Disarm.
"Yes, Harry," said Lupin with painful restraint, "and a great number of Death Eaters witnessed that happening! Forgive me, but it was a very unusual move then, under imminent threat of death. Repeating it tonight in front of Death Eaters who either witnessed or heard about the first occasion was close to suicidal!"
"So, you think I should have killed Stan Shunpike?" said Harry angrily.
"Of course not," said Lupin, "but the Death Eaters — frankly, most people! — would have expected you to attack back! Expelliarmus is a useful spell, Harry, but the Death Eaters seem to think it is your signature move, and I urge you not to let it become so!"
Lupin was making Harry feel idiotic, and yet there was still a grain of defiance inside him.
"I won't blast people out of my way just because they're there," said Harry. "That's Voldemort's job."
Lupin's retort was lost: Finally succeeding in squeezing through the door, Hagrid staggered to a chair and sat down; it collapsed beneath him. Ignoring his mingled oaths and apologies, Harry addressed Lupin again.
"Will George be okay?"
All Lupin's frustration with Harry seemed to drain away at the question. "I think so, although there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been cursed off —"
There was a scuffling from outside. Lupin dived for the back door; Harry leapt over Hagrid's legs and sprinted into the yard.
Two figures had appeared in the yard, and as Harry ran toward them he realized they were Hermione, now returning to her normal appearance, and Kingsley, both clutching a bent coat hanger. Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms, but Kingsley showed no pleasure at the sight of any of them. Over Hermione's shoulder Harry saw him raise his wand and point it at Lupin's chest.
"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"
"'Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him,'" said Lupin calmly.
Kingsley turned his wand on Harry, but Lupin said, "It's him, I've checked!"
"All right, all right!" said Kingsley, stowing his wand back beneath his cloak. "But somebody betrayed us! They knew, they knew it was tonight!"
"So, it seems," replied Lupin, "but apparently they didn't realise that there would be eight Harrys."
"Small comfort!" snarled Kingsley. "Who else is back?"
"Only Harry, Hagrid, George, and me."
Hermione stifled a little moan behind her hand.
"What happened to you?" Lupin asked Kingsley.
"Followed by five, injured two, might've killed one," Kingsley reeled off, "and we saw You-Know-Who as well, he joined the chase halfway through but vanished pretty quickly. Remus, he can —"
"Fly," supplied Harry. "I saw him too, he came after Hagrid and me."
"So that's why he left, to follow you!" said Kingsley. "I couldn't understand why he'd vanished. But what made him change targets?"
"Harry behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike," said Lupin.
"Stan?" repeated Hermione. "But I thought he was in Azkaban?"
Kingsley let out a mirthless laugh.
"Hermione, there's obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has hushed up. Travers's hood fell off when I cursed him, he's supposed to be inside too. But what happened to you, Remus? Where's George?"
"He lost an ear," said Lupin.
"Lost an — ?" repeated Hermione in a high voice.
"Snape's work," said Lupin.
"Snape?" shouted Harry. "You didn't say —"
"He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a speciality of Snape's. I wish I could say I'd paid him back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood."
Silence fell between the four of them as they looked up at the sky. There was no sign of movement; the stars stared back, unblinking, indifferent, unobscured by flying friends. Where was Ron? Where were Fred and Mr. Weasley? Where were Bill, Fleur, Tonks, Erin, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus? Where was Lucia?
If anything were to happen to Lucia — to any of them, he would never forgive himself. It was all his fault...
"Harry, give us a hand!" called Hagrid hoarsely from the door, in which he was stuck again. Glad of something to do, Harry pulled him free, then headed through the empty kitchen and back into the sitting room, where Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were still tending to George. Mrs. Weasley had staunched his bleeding now, and by the lamplight Harry saw a clean, gaping hole where George's ear had been.
"How is he?"
Mrs. Weasley looked around and said, "I can't make it grow back, not when it's been removed by Dark Magic. But it could have been so much worse... He's alive."
"Yeah," said Harry. "Thank God."
"Did I hear someone else in the yard?" Ginny asked.
"Hermione and Kingsley," said Harry.
"Thank goodness," Ginny whispered. They looked at each other, sharing an eminent look of fear for the others well-being. They were supposed to be back, but yet they have not. Their thoughts were broken away when there was a sudden crash from the kitchen.
"I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"
Harry had never heard Mr. Weasley shout like that before. He burst into the living room, his bald patch gleaming with sweat, his spectacles askew, Fred right behind him, both pale but uninjured.
"Arthur!" sobbed Mrs. Weasley. "Oh, thank goodness!"
"How is he?"
Mr. Weasley dropped to his knees beside George. For the first time since Harry had known him, Fred seemed to be lost for words. He gaped over the back of the sofa at his twin's wound as if he could not believe what he was seeing.
Perhaps roused by the sound of Fred and their father's arrival, George stirred.
"How do you feel, Georgie?" whispered Mrs. Weasley.
George's fingers groped for the side of his head.
"Saintlike," he murmured.
"What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred, looking terrified. "Is his mind affected?"
"Saintlike," repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. "You see... I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"
Mrs. Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Color flooded Fred's pale face.
"Pathetic," he told George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humor before you, you go for holey?"
"Ah well," said George, grinning at his tear-soaked mother. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum."
He looked around.
"Hi, Harry — you are Harry, right?"
"Yeah, I am," said Harry, moving closer to the sofa.
"Well, at least we got you back okay," said George. "Why aren't Ron, Bill, and Erin huddled round my sickbed?"
That's right. He had been too busy worrying about his brother that he hadn't realised that not only his brothers, but as well the love of his life not around, when his fiancee and Lucia should have definitely be back before Harry and Hermione. His eyes turned to Harry, who looked grimmer than ever, darkness floating in his eyes at the mention of the others.
"They're not back yet, George," his mother said quietly. George's grin faded; Fred's heart sunk.
Harry glanced at Ginny and motioned to her to accompany him back outside. As they walked through the kitchen she said in a low voice,
"Ron and Tonks should be back by now. They didn't have a long journey; Auntie Muriel's not that far from here."
Harry said nothing. He had been trying to keep fear at bay ever since reaching the Burrow, but now it enveloped him, seeming to crawl over his skin, throbbing in his chest, clogging his throat. As they walked down the path, Ginny ran her fingers through her hair, showing evident signs of distress.
"They'll come," said Ginny. "If you know Lucia enough, you'll know that she isn't going to die. Not unless she gets her daily dose of fruit cubes."
Harry laughed faintly. "Maybe that's why she was okay before..."
Ginny nodded. "Because at that time, she was deprived from her fruit cubes,"
Although he was pleading himself to heed Ginny's words, but as every second past without any further news, darkness slowly filled his heart. However, he reminded himself that if he were to give into the darkness of believing that the people he loved and cared for were no longer out there, that would mean he would be giving Voldemort the satisfactory of making his life a living hell while ripping the two of three pillars that held up his life. But Harry wasn't giving in. He wasn't going to give Voldemort that feeling of satisfaction. Lucia and Ron were out there, they were just trying to find a way back. That was all.
Kingsley was striding backward and forward, glancing up at the sky every time he turned. Harry was reminded of Uncle Vernon pacing the living room a million years ago. Hagrid, Hermione, and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing upward in silence. None of them looked around when Harry and Ginny joined their silent vigil.
The minutes stretched into what might as well have been years. The slightest breath of wind made them all jump and turn toward the whispering bush or tree in the hope that one of the missing Order members might leap unscathed from its leaves —
And then a broom materialized directly above them and streaked toward the ground —
"It's them!" screamed Hermione.
Tonks landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere.
"Remus!" Tonks cried as she staggered off the broom into Lupin's arms. His face was set and white: He seemed unable to speak. Ron tripped dazedly toward Harry and Hermione.
"You're okay," he mumbled, before Hermione flew at him and hugged him tightly.
"I thought — I thought —"
"'M all right," said Ron, patting her on the back. "'M fine."
"Ron was great," said Tonks warmly, relinquishing her hold on Lupin. "Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target from a flying broom —"
"You did?" said Hermione, gazing up at Ron with her arms still around his neck.
"Always the tone of surprise," he said a little grumpily, breaking free. "Are we the last back?"
"No," said Ginny, "we're still waiting for Erin and Lucia, Bill and Fleur, and Mad-Eye and Mundungus. I'm going to tell Mum and Dad you're okay, Ron —"
She ran back inside.
Ron turned palely to his bestfriends. "Blimey... weren't Erin and Lucia supposed to be back before you lot?"
"They were... but all that came was their portkey," said Harry darkly.
"They'll come, mate," said Ron reassuringly.
That's what he'd been trying to tell himself for the past hour.
"So, what kept you? What happened?" Lupin sounded almost angry at Tonks.
"Bellatrix," said Tonks. "She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I'd got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus... Then we got to Ron's Auntie Muriel's and we'd missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us —"
A muscle was jumping in Lupin's jaw. He nodded but seemed unable to say anything else.
"So what happened to you lot?" Tonks asked, turning to Harry, Hermione, and Kingsley.
They recounted the stories of their own journeys, but all the time the continued absence of Lucia, Erin, Bill, Fleur, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus seemed to lie upon them like a frost, its icy bite harder and harder to ignore.
"I'm going to have to get back to Downing Street, I should have been there an hour ago," said Kingsley finally, after a last sweeping gaze at the sky. "Let me know when they're back."
Lupin nodded. With a wave to the others, Kingsley walked away into the darkness toward the gate. Harry thought he heard the faintest pop as Kingsley Disapparated just beyond the Burrow's boundaries.
Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came racing down the back steps, Ginny behind them. Both parents hugged Ron before turning to Lupin and Tonks.
"Thank you," said Mrs. Weasley, "for our sons."
"Don't be silly, Molly," said Tonks at once.
"How's George?" asked Lupin.
"What's wrong with him?" piped up Ron.
"He's lost —"
"Help!"
A shrill voice called with a hint of a sob. They all knew immediately whom the voice belonged to, especially Fred. "Someone please!"
Before anyone else could react, Fred detached himself from his twin and ran out, following Harry as Ron and Hermione followed them. Through the darkness down the path, two figures were limping and at the same time walking as fast as they could. The nearer they've gotten, the more clearer the vision of them became. Hermione heaved out a loud gasp.
Erin was struggling enough, she was battered and was adorned by blood all over as she supported Lucia, who looked like herself instead of Harry, and looked as though she had suffered a really harsh blow. It was faint, but she was going in and out of consciousness every step she took, blood soaking on her right abdomen that had noticeably been penetrated by an arrow. They looked as though they could fall at any moment —
Harry was the first to react the moment Erin swayed and luckily, he caught the wounded Lucia right on time while Fred and Ron caught Erin. She panted in exhaustion, giving away the signs that she had been carrying Lucia for awhile now.
"What happened?" Hermione asked, dropping down beside Lucia, hesitant to touch the arrow.
Lucia stirred, crying in pain, and Harry held her closer to him.
"Get the arrow out first!" said Ron.
Hermione went to do, but Fred quickly stopped her. "That'll only worsen the bleeding." He said, "What happened?"
"Fly... ouch... everything...sucky... so..." Lucia didn't get to finish as her eyes rolled to the back of her head and her head lulled back.
"Talk later, get her to heal first!" cried Erin.
"C'mon, I'll help —" But Ron retracted his hands away when he saw his best friend's gaze on his other best friend. Harry, without any effort, carried her in his arms and began sprinting back into the Burrow. "I still don't understand why they broke up..."
"They broke up?" said Fred and Erin, shocked.
Hermione wiped her frightful tears away and waved them off. "Long story, but first let's get you in,"
"First George, now Lucia?" said Ron, running his fingers through his hair in distress.
"What happened to George?" asked Erin, with an immediately look of alarm.
"Well, he's... he goes by Sir Holey now," said Fred.
"Excuse me, what?" And they began to tell her what happened to George. Erin was horrified to know that her best friend had lost an ear but was grateful to hear that he was all right.
As they walked down the path back to the Burrow, Erin told them what happened, limping occasionally. "You know how we all got ambushed and all?" They nodded, "Well, we got followed and stuff..."
Harry barged through the door, and all the Order that were surrounding George snapped their heads towards Harry before they noticed the wounded girl in his arms. Mrs. Weasley was the first to react, for she gasped loudly that it even caused George to flutter his eyes open to see what was going on, though extremely exhausted.
"A-Arthur — bed — now!"
Mr. Weasley didn't waste time to conjure up a makeshift bed beside the couch, letting Harry put the wounded Lucia down; she was sweating profusely, fidgeting occasionally. Her chest heaved up and down heavily, and he didn't leave her side once while Mrs. Weasley and Ginny fretted around to find things that could heal here.
"How long has she been stabbed?"
"We didn't count the seconds and minutes, too busy trying not to get killed by my family..." entered Erin, Fred, Ron, and Hermione. Erina walked around the makeshift cot to George, "How you doing, buddy?" she asked as she carefully brushed his hair out of his face.
"Holeyest I've ever been," joked George weakly as his best friend and twin brother peered from above him. "Why does Little Flower have an arrow attached to her?"
And Erin chuckled weakly before retellling the story that she told Fred, Hermione, and Ron already. "And the next thing we knew, Bellatrix came by, and we had to book it, leaving the broom so we could enter through. But we didn't make it to the portkey... So are we the last one?"
"No," said Ginny solemnly, gripping the arrow with her mother in the ready to control the flowing blood. "They're Bill and Fleur and Moody and Dung,"
"Will she be okay?" Harry asked quietly to Mrs. Weasley.
"She's a tough cookie, just hold her hand will you, dear?" Harry nodded; it wasn't like that was his plan already. Mrs. Weasley than turned to her daughter, "Now,"
Ginny nodded and in a flicker of second, Ginny took out the arrow. Lucia let out a scream of pain, waking up from her slumber, tears running down her cheeks as she gripped Harry's hand tightly. "What the hell?!"
"Lay back down," Mrs. Weasley pushed her back down and began to put pressure on the wound, which merely made Lucia to cry out in pain. "We're cleaning your wound."
"Did you really have to take it out so rough?" cried Lucia through her teeth to Ginny, who held the bloodied arrow sheepishly.
"Sorry," she said, throwing the arrow away.
"God, you scared all of us there," said Hermione, a hand over her heart.
"I feel like she's as indestructible as Harry now," said George from beside her.
She glanced trough the corner of her eyes, and perhaps she was hallucinating from the lost of blood, but George didn't have an ear.
"What happened to you?"
"Lost an ear," he shrugged from his laying position.
"Oh,"
"Can you stop with the near-death experience already?" said Ron, peering over her.
Lucia was about to scowl but was cut off with her own cry of pain. "OW — It hurts!" she whined childishly.
"Bear with it, Luce," said Harry, who was crouched down beside her makeshift bed. His comforting emerald eyes were gleaming with concern. "See, this is why I didn't want you to do this,"
"Shut up. Who asked you for you opinion?" she flicked his forehead, though weakly. "If you can get yourself in trouble, then why can't I?"
"I don't go find for trouble, okay? Trouble usually finds me," said Harry defensively.
"I thought you were going to die on our way here, you know?" said Erin in relief, eyes flooded with tears. "You sometimes didn't respond but sometimes you did, and then blood was dripping out of you... I was so scared..." she sobbed into her hands.
"M'fine, really," said Lucia earnestly. "I've died before, getting stabbed is nothing."
"You know, no one had ever showed off the fact that they died once, you know?" mused Lupin.
"That's because they usually never live to tell their tale," said Tonks amusingly.
"In my defence, I was technically in the verge of death, but I was also dead at that time — you get me?"
"No," they all said.
Harry chuckled in relief, maybe it was much harder to kill Lucia than it was to kill him. Voldemort should be more wary about her than him, but then again, he would rather him going through all of this than her. He didn't sign up for any of this, but he was going to finish the job. He wasn't going to let Voldemort roam the world.
"I see Fleur, Bill, Moody, and Mundungus isn't around..." said Lucia.
"They'll be back soon," said Mrs. Weasley, trying to stay optimistic as she rose from her crouching position after having dressing the wound, and went to clean the bloodied cloth. "Now, you two better not overexert yourself for the next few days. You two need healing," added Mrs. Weasley, her hands over her hips.
"I heal pretty fast," reasoned Lucia. "I'll probably be able to do cartwheels by Harry's seventeenth birthday,"
"You better —"
But the end of Mrs. Weasley's sentence was drowned in a general outcry: A thestral had just soared into sight and landed a few feet from outside the door. Bill and Fleur slid from its back, windswept but unhurt.
"Bill! Thank God, thank God —"
Mrs. Weasley ran out along with some other. Harry turned to Lucia, but she gave him an assuring nod, and he went out as well in time for Mrs. Weasley to hug Bill, but the hug that was bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at his father, he said, "Mad-Eye's dead."
"We saw it," said Bill; Fleur nodded, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks in the light from the kitchen window. "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.
At last it seemed to dawn on everyone, though nobody said it, that there was no point waiting in the yard anymore, and in silence they followed Mr. and Mrs. Weasley back into the Burrow, and into the living room, where Lucia, Erin, Fred, and George were laughing together.
"Look, out of all puns, why did it had to be holey? That's so lame," criticised Lucia.
"I want bread," said Erin all the sudden.
"What — ?" Fred, George, and Lucia blinked at Erin.
"I want a hole wheat bread," she grinned cheekily.
It took the three a moment to realised what she did before they parted their lips, "Oh..."
Erin rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest. "You guys are lame,"
"No, actually, that was lamer than Georgie's you see," said Fred, hands over his hips, mirroring their mother.
"Keep on doing that and you'll become the person you never wanted to become," said Erin, scoffing.
Fred gasped dramatically. "How dare you," he said, "I'll never become Mum,"
"Watch him turn into Mum," whispered George.
"You're lucky you're Mr. Holey right now, Forge," said Fred, smirking before he notices the others that had went out, returning. He scanned their sullen faces, "What's wrong? What's happened? Who's — ?"
"Mad-Eye," said Mr. Weasley. "Dead."
The four's 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, Lucia learnt, his favorite and his protégée at the Ministry of Magic. Hagrid, who had sat down on the floor in the corner where he had most space, was dabbing at his eyes with his tablecloth-sized handkerchief.
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 thirteen full glasses of firewhisky and one full glass of chocolate milk soaring through the room to each of them, holding the fourteenth aloft. "Mad-Eye."
"Mad-Eye," they all said, and drank.
"Mad-Eye," echoed Hagrid, a little late, with a hiccup.
Lucia drank her chocolate milk, sitting upright, minding the wound on her right abdomen. As she drank, she saw Harry's indescribable expression that he had on his face. She knew exactly what he was thing, he was feeling guilty. She wanted to comfort him, but she could barely walk in her state without falling in pain.
"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-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."
"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..."
"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey knew we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."
She glared around at them all, tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of them to contradict her. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccuping from behind his handkerchief.
Harry glanced at Hagrid, who had just risked his own life to save Harry's — Hagrid, whom he loved, whom he trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Voldemort crucial information in exchange for a dragon's egg...
"No," Harry said aloud, and they all looked at him, surprised: The firewhisky seemed to have amplified his voice. "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. They were all looking at him; Harry felt a little hot again and drank some more firewhisky for something to do. As he drank, he thought of Mad-Eye. Mad-Eye had always been scathing about Dumbledore's willingness to trust people.
"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.
"Here we go," mumbled Lucia, drinking her milk.
"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin, "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends."
Harry knew what Lupin was getting at: that his father had been betrayed by his friend, Peter Pettigrew. He felt irrationally angry. He wanted to argue, but Lupin had turned away from him, set down his glass upon a side table, and addressed Bill, "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 Fleur 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?"
"Let them find Mad-Eye's body," said Erin quietly, leaning against Fred solemnly. "It's better to honour him than to let others disrespect him,"
Nobody said anything, admitting that they would rather them finding the fallen warrior's body, than the Death Eaters do. Lupin and Bill said good-bye and left.
The rest of them now dropped into chairs, all except for Harry, who remained standing. The suddenness and completeness of death was with them like a presence.
"I've got to go too," said Harry.
Twelve 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; it was prickling again; it had not hurt like this for more than a year. "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 Fleur's agreed to get married here rather than in France, we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you —"
"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 —"
"And Lucia getting stabbed?" said Erin.
"Don't bring me into this," murmured Lucia.
"I know —'
"Mad-Eye wouldn't want —"
"I KNOW!" Harry bellowed.
He felt beleaguered and blackmailed: Did they think he did not know what they had done for him, didn't they understand that it was for precisely that reason that he wanted to go now, before they had to suffer any more on his behalf? There was a long and awkward silence in which his scar continued to prickle and throb, and which was broken at last by Mrs. Weasley.
"Where's Hedwig, Harry?" she said coaxingly. "We can put her up with Pigwidgeon and give her something to eat."
Harry avoided the decision to answer, and Lucia heart sunk. Hedwig was gone. Another fallen soldier. Yes, she may only be a bird, but Hedwig was one of the most loyalist owl she had ever had the pleasure to meet. She had not only been there for the start of Harry's journey, but as well as helping them with a bunch of things back when they were in Hogwarts.
Prickly tears brimmed her eyes, a stray tear roaming down her cheeks. She wished she could find her, so they could give her the proper burial she deserves...
Bao Bao would most definitely be devastated... Bao Bao... Hedwig...
"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."
"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. His scar was burning: He felt angry and frustrated; he hated the idea that they were all imagining him to have power to match Voldemort's.
No one said anything. He knew that they did not believe him. Now that he came to think of it, he had never heard of a wand performing magic on its own before.
His scar seared with pain; it was all he could do not to moan aloud. Muttering about fresh air, he set down his glass and left the room.
"Watch me smack some sense in him," said Lucia suddenly, trying her best to stable herself as she stood up.
Mrs. Weasley protested, but Lucia didn't hear anything as the urge to go after Harry had flooded her. With a great rush of adrenaline, Lucia straightened herself and ran out of the room through the door Harry had gone through previously, not feeling the pain. Ron and Hermione looked at one another and nodded, following Lucia.
As she crossed the dark yard, she saw the great skeletal thestral looked up, rustled its enormous batlike wings, then resumed its grazing as Harry was in front of the gates into the garden, staring out at its overgrown plants for a moment before he began to shake in the darkness and clutching the gate into the garden, his heart racing, his scar still tingling.
"Harry!" Lucia raced up to him. "Are you okay?"
He panted, taking a moment to realised that Lucia was by his side, clutching his arm. "Yea — no. Actually, no," he shook his head. He had always found her being the only person that he could never lie to.
"What happened — ?"
Before Harry could tell her, Hermione and Ron came racing down to them. And right at that moment, Lucia yelped in pain, the adrenaline in her veins slowly diminishing. Harry hastily caught her, supporting her before she could fall.
"Thanks," she mumbled to him.
"Sure," said Harry awkwardly, which Lucia couldn't help but find herself amused to.
"Harry, come back in the house," Hermione whispered. "You aren't still thinking of leaving?"
"Yeah, you've got to stay, mate," said Ron, thumping Harry on the back.
"Are you all right?" Hermione asked, close enough now to investigate Harry's face. "You look awful!"
"Let the guy breathe," said Lucia, stopping from their onslaught of bombarding him with questions. "But really though," she turned to her best friend worriedly, "What happened? You look like me when I was in St. Mungo's,"
"Not funny," deadpanned Harry shakily at her, "But, well, I probably look better than Ollivander..."
When he had finished telling them what he had seen, Lucia merely quirked a brow, Ron looked appalled, but Hermione downright terrified.
"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar — it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! You mustn't let that connection open up again — Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"
When he did not reply, she gripped his arm.
"Harry, he's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!"
Silence fell upon them at Hermione's pressuring words.
"C'mon, Harry," said Lucia after there was a long pause between the four. "Let's go back and think of something about it, okay? 'Cause clearly, we don't have any plan for what's going to come."
"Yeah, mate, we all need some rest," said Ron, who took Hermione's hand and dragged her back to the Burrow.
Lucia turned to Harry, "Come on,"
"But —"
"Harry,"
He sighed. Maybe a few last days as a normal teenager before weighing the impossible on his shoulder might be better for him...
Harry wrapped an arm around her waist, and instinctively she laid her head on his shoulder. "Let's go."