A/N: Sorry for the long wait, but school is kicking my ass. I hope it's worth the wait. Please comment, vote, and love. <3
I stood there looking out the window of Marcus and Alex’s home. The willow trees that hugged the edge of the distant edge of the yard seemed to whip in the wind like an angry octopus swigging its arms. I turned from the window and looked around the small but quant little sitting room. It was simple just like Alex liked it, but it made me feel alone. Alex, Sophie, and Adeline were upstairs taking a nap while Marcus went out for a bit. I fancied myself to sit alone and drink a couple cups of tea, which was sitting on the table, getting terribly cold. I couldn’t possibly drink it after it turned cold. As I picked up the cup to toss out the contents, the front door opened to reveal Marcus.
“Courtney, are you ready?” he asked seriously.
I nodded. “Just let me dump out my cup and we can be on our way.”
After I had thrown the cup into the sink, I grabbed my jacket from the back of a kitchen chair then walked back into the sitting room. Marcus was waiting patiently, but he also looked terrible worried. I knew why too. I had volunteered to go along with Lupin’s plan even though he didn’t want me to. I was needed, so I can be used. Besides, I was of age so he couldn’t tell me what to do. I was my own person, but that didn’t stop him from volunteering as well. He urged to be paired with me, and he won that argument fairly easy. At least I got to do what I wanted. We walked out the door into the breezy night where Marcus took my hand and apparated us to a street that I didn’t recognize. One look told me that we were in a muggle neighborhood, and I didn’t need to ask where we were.
The walk down to Harry’s was long and quiet as my brother and I didn’t speak to each other. He was angry with me still. We had gotten into an argument about whether or not I was going with Harry on his little trip or back to Hogwarts. I was firm on leaving since was of age and could make my own decisions. He won’t tell me any other reason besides he’s the boss of me, like a child. Alex told me not to worry because he’s just afraid of losing his little sister. I knew it was dangerous, but I had to do it for Draco. Anything just to have his arms around me once more.
“You made it!” Kam exclaimed as she, Ron, Hermione, the twins, Lupin, Tonks, Bill, and Fluer all approached the house at the same time.
I nodded. “Sure did. Wouldn’t miss this for the world!”
“Of course not,” Marcus mumbled under his breath.
“Let’s get a move on,” said a gruff voice from behind us.
We all turned to see Mad Eye walking towards us with his limp. I smiled when I saw him, mainly because he had been one of my favorite teachers ever. That day with the spider was just hilarious. I laughed the hardest when he used it to put it on Draco’s face. As he walked passed me, I suddenly lost my smile. It really wasn’t him that was teaching. It really wasn’t a memory of him, but of the person that was impersonating him. Sadness crept over me as I realized that I didn’t have one single memory of the real man that he was.
“Are you coming?” Kam asked, bumping me as she passed.
I followed them all inside to see Harry smiling in amazement at everyone. I gave him a quick hug before backing away so that everyone else could talk to him. Kam and I just stood together before Moody broke up the happy reunion and pushed the plan. We all lined up. I was between Kam and Fred. It, surprisingly, hadn’t been very awkward as I would’ve thought between Fred and me. I guess he never caught on to me and Ron.
“No, you’re not doing this,” Harry snapped me out of my thoughts. “None of you are risking your lives for me.”
“Everyone in this room is of age Potter,” Moody came to the rescue before anyone else could even speak. “They are of sound mind and can make their own decisions.”
We were each handed a cup of sorts and a very questionable liquid was poured into it. I never had seen Poly Juice Potion before so I wasn’t sure what it had looked like. It actually didn’t look like liquid at all but a rather chunky chowder that smelled just plain awful. Moody added a bit of Harry’s hair to it, which just made my stomach churn. I had to drink a part of my friend, which seemed very weird indeed. Kam nudged me after she had chugged hers down. I had been staring down at it, not wanting to drink it in the slightest, but I had to do what was right. If drinking that disgusting sludge was it, then I would force it down my own throat.
And disgusting it was. I practically had to chew it before swallowing the putrid substance. I automatically wanted to hurl, but I kept my composure. An unpleasant tingling sensation then swept through my whole body, from my head to my toes. Before I could register what was happening, I had grown three inches, my hair shrank, and my eye sight became so bad that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
“You’re eyesight really is awful, Harry,” Hermione commented as we were each handed a pair of glasses similar to Harry’s.
I looked over at Kam, who had a weird grin on her face. “I’m a boy,” she announced. “It feels so funny to be a boy. I have less weight on top and more weight towards the middle.” She giggled like it was the most hilarious thing ever.
“I think it’s just weird to be Harry period,” I shrugged.
“I agree,” Fred laughed, shrugging on his jacket. “I mean, if something goes wrong, I’ll be stuck as a specky git for the rest of my life!”
“That would be an improvement,” I laughed, sliding on my jeans.
“You think you’re really funny. You think you’re really smart, but all your head is good for is to keep your ears apart,” Fred said to me in a sing-song voice as a smirk crept onto his handsome face.
I rolled my eyes as I was handed my jacket in a hurry. Apparently, we needed to leave at once. Marcus took me by the hand, and we followed everyone out to the front yard where Marcus had a broom handed to him. He mounted, as did I, wrapping my arms around him for support. It had to look funny that Harry Potter was hugged Marcus Flint close. I smiled as the thought occurred to me, but it was lost in a flash. From the sky, there was a swarm of Death Eaters approaching and fast.
“They knew!” someone shouted.
“How did they know?” someone else asked.
Marcus hastily started flying off in the opposite direction of our safe place, trying to shake our unwanted guests, but three of them attached themselves to us. Flashes of red and blue lights flew past me, and I tightened my grip around Marcus and buried my face into his back. He looped us and jerked us was he dodged the spells and sped ahead into the night. I felt like I was going to be sick, which wasn’t a good sign. I figured that I must try to do something, so I reached into my jacket pocket and enclosed my fingers around my wand. I paused for a second to take a deep breath before turning and pointing the wand behind us.
“Stupify!” I yelled, hitting one of our followers, but it wasn’t good enough. He, or she, was still flying straight. “Defendo!” I shrieked and hit the same person and that time he fell of his broom.
As expected, the other two didn’t even flinch or stop to retrieve their comrade. I turned back for a second because Marcus had us in a full on nose dive. We were heading straight for the ground. I wrapped my arms around him tightly once more and watched as I dreaded our collision. I expected that he wouldn’t be able to pull up in enough time, and I was right. As soon as he made to pull up and save us from our impending doom, we were hit and thrown off course. I was thrown off pretty hard and smacked right into a tree before falling straight to the ground. I was going to be so sore in the morning. Gee, thanks gravity.
I stood up as fast as I could for just having been thrown back first into a tree. That’s when I heard sticks breaking. The followers were on the hunt for us and getting closer. I dropped down to my knees and crawled. My heart skipped a beat as I heard one straight behind me and deep breathing.
“Stop right there, Potter,” said an all too familiar voice that made my heart stop completely.
Despite every desire to just yell out, I reached into my pocket and swore under my breath when I didn’t find my wand. I had it in my hand before I fell off the broom. I must’ve dropped it between the time I had slammed into that tree and being found. So, I slowly stood and turned to face him, knowing that he didn’t know it was me. He looked like he had been through Hell and back. His eyes were blood shot and swollen. He looked as if he had lost more weight, especially in his face. Both of his eyes looked as if he had gotten into a fist fight. My poor Draco.
“I’ve got you right where I want you,” Draco smirked. It didn’t make it all the way to his eyes.
I didn’t say anything, but just stood there wondering what my next move should be. My Poly Juice Potion could’ve worn off at anytime, and his partner wouldn’t put the brakes on harming me. I couldn’t think of what to do next. My brain was muddled with the thought that he was actually standing in front of me. He might not have been well, but at least he was alive. My heart called out to him saying, “It’s me. I love you so much.”
“What? Are you just going to stand there, Potter?” Draco continued the useless banter. “It makes things loads easier if that’s what you’re plan is, no matter how stupid it is.”
“And you’ll make this loads easier if you just step away from him,” said Marcus as he had his wand pointed at Draco’s back.
“Flint,” Draco shook his head. “Fancy seeing you here. Last I heard, you just left. You coward.”
Marcus chuckled. “You see, that’s where you’re wrong. I’m actually brave for stepped out before it got too far. The ones who stayed are spineless jellyfish that should be out down.”
“You’re something else, you are, Flint. You look wonderful for just loosing something precious in your life,” He sneered. He didn’t say it to jab him, but it sounded as if he actually meant it.
“What are you talking about, Malfoy? I haven’t lost anything, but you will if you don’t walk away right now before I dispose off your pathetic ass.”
I gasped as Marcus raised his wand causing Draco to look back at me. “No! Draco!” I yelled just as my brother hit him in the back with a bright red spell.