"Remember me
Where were you when all of the embers fell?
I still remember there covered in ash, covered in glass
If there's a place that I could be, then I'd be another memory
Can I be the only hope for you?
Because you're the only hope for me
And if we can't find where we belong, we'll make it on our own
Face all the pain and take it on
Because the only hope for me is you alone"
-The Only Hope for me is you, MCR
****
"How're you feeling, Freddie?" Harper asked as she sat at her and George's desk completing mail orders while Fred worked on making more fever fudge.
"Nervous, but fine...better than last month," Fred nodded, gently stirring the concoction of fever fudge. "Glad you're here, you've helped us accomplish a lot of the setup in record time."
"Oh, it was no big deal," Harper snorted, wrapping the bow on a plain white bottle. Disguising the blemish banisher in a plain bottle to send off to Hogwarts.
"George doing alright?"
"Stressed but better," Harper smiled. The two fell into a peaceful silence filled with only the small music player in the corner. "What's going to happen with all four us around? With the flat, I mean."
"Whoever has a child first is the one to move," Fred said with a smirk, Harper's jaw dropped as she stuttered, shaking her head. "What?! Four people and a baby is too much!"
"Did you and George already discuss that?!" Fred gave a nod, she made a noise as she went to write a letter to Joy.
"I'm joking, Harps!" Fred laughed after a minute. "You shoulda seen your face!"
"Well," Harper chuckled, leaning back in her chair, "that actually would be a good solution....four adults and a baby is too tight for that flat."
"It'll do for now," Fred mused, a thoughtful smile on his face.
"I'd imagine you'd take it all at the end of the day," Harper smiled, finishing her letter and taping it with her wand to keep others out of the letter. "A quidditch player and the shop owner, it makes sense, Angelina will be too busy with quidditch to enjoy a full blown house and it would be too lonely for you. George and I can find something someday."
Fred smirked, boxing the batch of fever fudge, "she'd be so sick of me if you two left us alone."
"Yeah, but I think that's part of your charm," Harper snickered, Fred rolling his eyes in response.
"Hello you two, how's things?" George greeted, leaning against the doorframe.
"Excellent! I got the apothecary to cut us a deal on supplies we'll need and I'm working with Miss Sims the herbalist as well. I think we'll be perfectly set!" Harper said with a grin.
"That's my brilliant Harpsichord," George grinned, Harper felt her face blush slightly at the compliment, George coming to stand beside her and giving her a kiss on the forehead. Fred making a fake gagging noise as he applauded Harper's efforts in getting their supplies situated.
****
Sirius placed a cup of earl grey in front of Harper with a smile, it had been a month since they had departed school. The twins were focused on production while Harper fulfilled mail orders, the shop was mostly set, a few items still misplaced, but the twins were working on arranging all the products to their vision. But the colors and atmosphere you got from looking at the place was all they could hope for. Harper was happy to help the twins accomplish their dreams, the smiles on her friends' faces was priceless.
"Still no word from my parents?" Harper asked, a bit dejected. They had been sent to France for the Order about five months ago, Asher sent letters but no other news. She was surprised to not get a letter from her mother since their escape, wondering if the news had not reached her yet.
"No..." Sirius gave a sympathetic smile. "But no news can be good news."
"I guess I can bide my time until they return....can't wait to hear their tirades," Harper gave a brief smile.
"As long as that shop is coming along, I think they'll be proud."
Harper made a face, finishing off her tea and going outside to the small garden patch Sirius had let her make. Her mind began to wander onto the subject of everyone stuck at Hogwarts and how they were managing. The mail order service was fully up and running and to no one's surprise, the Skiving Snackboxes were the top requested. The girls sent brief letters in response to her smuggled letters, news of Lee stuffing Nifflers in Umbridge's office last week brightened her day while Joy continued her healer training, Angelina and Alicia were hopeful in winning the quidditch cup.
Feeling a raindrop on her nose, Harper made her way back inside where she was met with an interesting sight. Severus Snape stood annoyed in the kitchen as he finished speaking to Sirius, Sirius falling back into a chair in slight shock.
"But...but I didn't hear anything, there was a noise upstairs so I wasn't here....Harper, did you hear anything?" Sirius turned to Harper with pleading eyes.
"No, I was outside in the garden," Harper frowned. "What happened?"
"Harry was fed a false memory of me....Voldemort is trying to get him to go to the Ministry," Sirius said, his voice was shaking as he ran a hand through his hair.
Snape gave Harper a thorough probing look, Harper felt the push on her mental walls. Pursing her lips as she studied the man who mentored her.
"Interesting to know you're still alive, Miss Nonemacker," he said coldly."The school was under the assumption you were sent to Mungo's for a suspicious run in with an unknown jinx." Giving a curt nod, Snape left Sirius and Harper with their thoughts.
So that's the story the girls went with
Harper took a deep breath hurrying to the kitchen fireplace and picking up the small pot of floo powder.
"Let's call the Order, Sirius. We'll get this sorted," Harper spoke with a slight edge to her voice. Keeping her nerves at bay.
Sirius was pacing the kitchen, looking into a thin mirror with a murderous look. "Blast it! Yes, yes, call them already."
Harper began calling members, hastily explaining Harry was in trouble. It felt like hours before everyone arrived, Sirius explained the situation with a hollow voice, Harper lifted the small mirror he'd been looking into, instead of a reflection she only saw darkness.
"You're not going," Lupin held a hand on Harper's shoulder when they began to depart.
"I'm going," Harper frowned. "Come on!"
"Harper, if something happens to you the twins will murder us. And if someone realizes you are there, you have to understand that you aren't safe," Lupin explained calmly, as if it were a class. "Please, you have to stay."
"I can't stay here knowing my friends are walking into a trap!" Harper shook her head furiously. "I'll stick close, please."
"Harper, please go back to the twins where you're safe," Tonks spoke softly from behind Lupin.
There was an uncomfortable silence as Harper pleaded with Lupin to let her join. If she were forced to stay behind she would find her own way there, no matter what Harper was in this fight to save her friends.
"Do not go far from me," Lupin whispered, his voice filled with regret.
And they were off.
***
Arriving at the Ministry when no one was there felt weird, it was like seeing any office building frozen in time. As they walked toward the lifts, something didn't feel right, the hairs on the back of Harper's neck began to stand up as her heart rate accelerated.
"Harper, you're to stay with me. We'll focus on getting everyone gathered and out, where I go you go. Got it?" Lupin explained their plan, Harper nodded nervously, hiding it behind a confident smile.
Moody jinxed the lift to remain quiet when they got to the ninth floor, when Harper stepped out of the lift, she wished she hadn't. It was too quiet, the polished corridor looked very familiar.
It was the corridor from her visions, the exact corridor she watched someone get attacked by a snake, the hall her aunt warned her about. Suddenly the idea of rescuing her friends seemed futile as she kept her pace with Lupin, swallowing the lump in her throat.
They approached the cold, black door that was left slightly ajar, Moody taking point followed by Tonks and Sirius and then Lupin and Harper with Kingsley at the rear. When Kingsley crossed the threshold, the door clicked behind them as they entered the circular room with multiple doors greeting them.
My visions
Harper felt sweat forming, she was cold as she shook from head to toe. Every fiber in her body was screaming to be let out of this hell she was walking into. They knew it was a trap, and yet Harper still tagged along. Because it was her friends.
Because if she found out something happened to Ginny or Hermione that she could've prevented, she would lose it.
I'm not going to be a bystander anymore
Stepping forward, the walls around them began to rotate, the door they entered quickly gone and now they were staring at multiple doors.
"Harper, stay with Remus. Meet here as soon as you find any of the kids," Kingsley nodded. Harper gave a tight smile as the Order began to split up and take different doors.
There was shouting behind one of them, the Order moved quickly through the doorway, finding themselves in a courtroom with a dais down below them, a great stone archway in the center.
Hello?
Harper froze, ducking down behind a bench, clutching her head as whispers began to pound against her skull. Her breath taken away as voices wracked her brain. Lupin ducked down beside her, patting her knee, his words never reaching her ears.
Hello, please don't run
Please, just a word
Hiya Harper
The last voice sounded familiar, like an old friend, her throat closed as tears welled in her eyes.
"Ced?" Her voice was barely above a whisper as she continued to hide behind the bench. Memories of Cedric appearing in her forefront.
That's not possible! No!
Harper shook as she heard the voice again, her heartrate skyrocketing as it pounded out of her chest, Lupin was shaking her knee again, Harper came round and a moment later heard his words.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," Harper brushed him off, trying to remain calm.
Lupin was unconvinced as they stood back up and hurried down the steps, closer to the pit and the archway. Harper gasping in pain as the voices bombarded her, Lupin took her elbow and led her through the room.
Shouting erupted in the room behind them just as Harry and company barged into the room, running down the stairs and looking around wildly. Lupin and Harper ducked out of sight, readying their wands to ambush whoever appeared behind the teenagers.
Five masked Death Eaters appeared, holding their wands high as they circled the group of fifth years Harper had missed over the last few months. Slinking from her hiding spot, Harper crept behind the masked Death Eaters until she was four steps higher than them.
"Oi! Idiots! What's a bunch of dunderheads doing messing with teenagers?!" Harper shouted, the five Death Eaters spun around, several jets of multicolored light shot at Harper who deflected it all and ran up the stairs and back into the main room. The rooms immediately changing.
So much for my promise to Remus
Harper tested her luck and made her way into a room with a tank that once had held something but now was cracked and empty, the fluid from the tank slowly leaking on the ground. Over her shoulder she could hear shouting, as Harper was about to turn on her heel and leave something attached to her heel, a searing pain went through her leg as she screamed out.
Don't leave me, how can you leave! Oh oh! This body is so different, the brain is exceptional.
Must learn more
Let me in your mind
Let me devour your thoughts
Let me understand
Harper was screaming at the top of her lungs as she tried to get what appeared to be a brain off her leg, its tendrils piercing her skin as it stuck to her with exceptional strength. She fell to her legs, thrashing about as she tried to get the brain off her. It continued its way up her body, when it reached her torso, there was a jet of light and the brain fell limp.
"I said: don't leave my side!" Lupin said in an exasperated tone as he helped Harper to her feet. "Are you alright?"
Harper nodded, her throat was raw from screaming. Lupin took her wrist and hurried them back out the room, the doors moved again and they were back in the courtroom.
I'd rather take my chances with the brain again
Harper shuddered as the archway continued to call to her, a few benches below her, she noticed Neville and Ginny huddled together as a Death Eater pelted their hiding spot with spells.
"Reducto!"
Harper ducked beside the two, Ginny's eyes going huge when she saw who it was, Harper pulled her into a tight hug.
"What the hell do you think you're doing here?!" Ginny reprimanded her as Harper helped lift Neville with a broken ankle up off the floor and toward Lupin.
"Rescuing your arses!" Harper shouted turning to see a Death Eater behind them, "depulso!"
"Do the twins know you're here?! Don't tell me they're here!" Ginny gasped as they hurried toward Lupin who was fighting off a Death Eater.
Harper coughed, not meeting Ginny's eyes, if something worse happened to her, George may never let her out of his sights again. "Not...exactly."
Neville made a noise as they got to Lupin, Harper felt her ankle yanked beneath her and dragged away from her friends. Turning on her back she was met with a joyous smirk, the mystery man lifted her up by her shirt front, holding her throat as he began laughing.
"The prophecy may have been lost, but I know about you....I remember all your little pictures on daddy's desk. You're that mind reader...oh oh oh oh, the Dark Lord is going to be please!"
There was shouting as Harper was lifted over this unfamiliar man's shoulder. An explosion rocked the room as Harper tried in vain to get out of the assailant's arms. Kicking at his chest she landed one good kick to his ribs, the man doubled over causing Harper to fall under him. Hurrying to her feet, she ran through a room with a weird bell jar in the corner, seeing a mass of bushy brown hair laying dormant at the bottom of a book case
Hermione!
Harper could hear the shouting behind her, turning around she released a flurry of spells until she fell over something, landing with a thump on the ground. Looking to her right she saw it was Ron, a bloody nose and a busted lip, he tried to smile as they got to their feet.
"Harp our! Bloody elk!" Ron's speech was slurred and broken, his arms were covered in the same suction cup marks that her legs were covered in.
"No time, we gotta get back!" Harper gripped his hand and ran.
They exited the room and crashed into Tonks and Kingsley in the central room. A deadly laugh sounded just over Kingsley's shoulder.
"Out! Tonks! Escort—ah!" Kingsley grunted, blocking a red jet that came their way.
Tonks pulled the two teens to her side and they hurried to what they thought was the exit but it was the courtroom again.
"Seriously?!" Harper cried in frustration, she was about to make her way into the room when someone grabbed her shirt, pulling her from the group.
"Harper!" Tonks screamed, grabbing her hands in an attempt to pull Harper through the threshold. She cast a flurry of spells on the assailant but the grip on her shirt was still taught.
"Stupefy!"
Tonks went flying, Ron was too slow to react, Harper was pulled back into someone's chest. Her mouth covered as she screamed out. Kicking at the assailant, she felt her wand drop from her hand and clatter somewhere along the ground. Kicking out, Harper pushed the person off her, hurrying into the courtroom where everyone else was at, taking a deep breath she ran toward Lupin and Kingsley, holding out her hands to them.
"Depulso!"
A yellow jet of light hit Harper's back, she went flying onto the dais where the voices behind the veiled archway pounded against her mind, the air left her lungs as she hit her head on the ground, her vision blurring while she tried to get to her feet. Lupin, Tonks and Ron were standing at the top of the room, staring down Harper in terror as Lupin tried to run toward her.
Wandless, Harper got to her feet, falling immediately as pain shot through her body. Lupin was above her in another minute, shielding her from spells.
"Reducto!"
Lupin was shot forward, unable to protect Harper as she felt her body lifted up from the ground after falling back down.
A blindfold went over her eyes, her legs were locked together, falling backwards as she began screaming. Her hands were locked together as she tried to lash out at her assailant.
"Stupefy!" Harper screamed, her wandless magic surging weakly through her body a moment later. Her assailant was unaffected by the weak use of magic as she cried out.
The shouts continued around her, spells flew around them, she could feel the heat of magic all around her as she cursed herself. Screaming to be able to use her body to defend herself at all.
The only thing Harper was aware of next was her body being lifted onto a bony shoulder, hurriedly carried through the Ministry. She felt the heat of the floo network on her body but nothing else in the silence, a gag going over her mouth as she was carried to an unknown location. She felt herself carried down stairs into a dark room, the air shifting to colder temperatures as she began to shiver. She was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, her hearing was suddenly cut, as if the world was silenced beyond the blindfold.
As Harper shivered against a coarse stone wall, she began to cry.
Wishing beyond anything in the world that she hadn't been weak. She was isolated, sound and sight depravation becoming abundantly clear as she shivered. She'd only wanted to protect her friends, she'd only wanted to helpful. But instead she was somewhere else, about to be tortured for god knows what, while Fred and George patiently waited for her to return home from her visit to Grimmauld.
George
The images of him that crossed her mind made her heartache, he was probably sitting in the living room happily waiting for her return. Her heart broke as she thought about him slowly becoming terrified.
The complete deprivation of sound and sight caused her to panic.
You need to calm down and organize your thoughts
Taking several long calming breaths, Harper began to collect herself and thoughts. Pulling anything to do with the Order to the forefront of her mind, picturing the memories as tangible bubbles, she began to tear them to unintelligible pieces. Each memory she destroyed and pushed into a tiny corner of her mind made her sob.
Was destroying memories of the Order enough?
****
George was cleaning out a box of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder when the shop bell rang, he grinned excitedly—hoping it was Harper returning. Remus Lupin stood beside his mother, both looking disheartened. George's smile fell, his heart rate immediately skyrocketed.
"Hello, sweetheart. Is...is there a place we could talk?" Molly began, her eyes were bloodshot, her face tear stained.
George nodded, leading them to the back office, Fred gave a curious look when they passed the supply area. George took a seat in the tiny office that would be shared by four stubborn people at once, sitting down at his and Harper's desk.
"George," Remus began, "there was an incident this evening."
"What do you mean?" George whispered.
"Your sister and brother followed Harry to the Ministry of Magic on a false whim...." Remus explained, he put his hands behind his back, his expression regretful. "Harper was at Grimmauld when Sirius got the tip off and...I allowed her to go."
Remus lost his voice, his eyes were brimming with unshed tears as Molly looked away from her son.
"What happened?" George whispered, his voice shaking. He hadn't noticed Fred sticking his head in the room behind their mother, Fred quietly watching.
"She did her best to save everyone, but there was a moment...she was hit with a spell that separated her from me, and I was unable to protect her," Remus lost his voice. Shaking his head as he kept his tears at bay, looking away from George.
"Harper was taken by the Death Eaters," Molly whispered, nervously twisting her hands together.
George felt his heart shatter, his breathing stopped, his jaw began to tremble as he looked between the adults in front of him. Floundering as the words processed in his brain.
"How....what?!" George choked out, tears were blurring his vision he couldn't make anyone out.
"George, I am so sorry. I never thought....we warned her. Told her to go back to you and the shop. But—" Remus was shaking his head, his own tears falling as George broke down in front of him.
George held his face in his hands as he sobbed, his world shattering with every inhale.
"We have to do something!" George breathed, pleading with them.
"The Order will handle this," Molly nodded, pulling her son into her arms.
"No, I have to! It has to be me! I have to save her!" He was desperately pleading now, his breathing erratic as he panicked. "We have to do something!"
"How about you and Freddie come back home for a bit? Until the shop is open," Molly offered.
"That sounds great, mum," Fred nodded, his own voice thick with tears.
"No, I don't want to go," George whispered, moving from his mothers embrace. "I can manage."
"Well, the offer will always be there, dear," Molly whispered with a smile.
"George, I won't stop until I bring her home," Remus vowed. "I swear, I'll work around the clock until she's home."
George let his gaze fall to the ground, the world was cold and empty, there was no sun or moon without Harper around. Even when it was just a crush he'd felt for her, even when they had their tiffs, it was always colder when Harper wasn't around. His heart felt like it was slowly dying, tangling itself in his arteries as he imagined the torture Harper was going through.
A sob traveled through his body, putting his head in his hands as he allowed the sorrow to course through his body.