Being separated from Harry, after this horrible year, was worse than any other. Then, on top of that, I had to watch as my friends leave to go get him while I wasn't allowed to go.
"Mrs. Weasley, please," I cried. "Let me go with them. I can't bear it."
"Maisey, they are going to retrieve Harry, to bring him here," she said. "There is no point in leaving just so you could come back."
"But Fred and George and Ron and Hermione— they all left, they were here, too!" I said.
"But they are of age, you are not. And you are in danger as well," Mrs. Weasley stated. "Stay with Ginny in the living room while I get ready for the incoming people."
Mrs. Weasley took me into the living room, from outside, and I sat next to Ginny. Since Ginny and I are both underaged witches, we were not allowed to go to rescue Harry. The plan was for the Order, Ron, and Hermione to get Harry from our aunt and uncle's house and bring him to the Burrow where he could be safe. They would disguise themselves as Harry while bringing him here. We turned seventeen in a few days and Harry will no longer be safe at the Dursleys.
Anxiety soared through my body as I waited for everyone to come back. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes felt like hours, no one came. Ginny was shaking, terrified of the idea of something going wrong as was I. Mrs. Weasley was looking out the window at the back door.
Portkey after Portkey came back empty, no one attached.
After what felt like hours, Mrs. Weasley screamed. Ginny and I shot up to see Harry and Hagrid stumbling in the field.
"Harry! Harry?" I cried, running past Ginny and Mrs. Weasley.
"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.
"N-No," I breathed.
"The Death Eaters were waiting for us," he told us. "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 —"
"Thank goodness you're all right," Mrs. Weasley said, pulling him into a hug.
When she let go of Harry to attend to Hagrid, I jumped into Harry's arms.
"I thought..." I sobbed, not being able to finish my sentence.
"What happened, Maisey?" Harry said, pulling away from me.
"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," I said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," I pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Mr. Weasley's and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third and," she checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."
Harry nodded, but didn't hug Ginny. Just as Mrs. Weasley came out from the house, with a bottle of brandy for Hagrid, Ginny shouted, "Mum!" 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. I knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.
I gasped as 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 and I gasped and I felt my 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.
"What are you doing to Harry?" I shouted at Lupin.
He ignored me.
"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. "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?" I said. "But how? What had you done?"
"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 Maisey and me from Voldemort two years ago," Harry added defiantly.
"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, but the Death Eaters seem to think it is both of your signature moves, and I urge you not to let it become so!"
There was a scuffling from outside. Lupin dived for the back door; Harry leapt over Hagrid's legs; I bolted down the steps and sprinted into the yard.
Two figures had appeared in the yard, and as I ran toward them I 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 I saw him raise his wand and point it at Lupin's chest.
"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"
" 'The Twins are the best hope we have. Trust them,' " said Lupin calmly.
Kingsley turned his wand on Harry, but Lupin said, "It's him, I've checked!"
"Somebody betrayed us!" Kingsley shouted. "They knew, they knew it was tonight!"
"So it seems," replied Lupin, "but apparently they did not realize that there would be seven 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. 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?" I shouted. "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 five of us as we 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, MadEye, and Mundungus?
"Harry, Maisey, give us a hand!" called Hagrid hoarsely from the door, in which he was stuck again. We ran back to where Mrs. Weasley and Ginny were still tending to George. Mrs. Weasley had staunched his bleeding now, and by the lamplight I saw a clean, gaping hole where George's ear had been.
"How is he?" I asked.
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 as if they wanted to hug each other, but didn't. Before anyone else could say anything, there was a great 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!"
I 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. I restrained myself from running into Fred's arms and looked back down at George's body on the couch.
"Arthur!" sobbed Mrs. Weasley. "Oh thank goodness!"
"How is he?"
Mr. Weasley dropped to his knees beside George. For the first time since I had known him, Fred seemed to be lost for words. He walked past me and 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 as I let out a soblike laugh. 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 and Bill huddled round my sickbed?"
"They're not back yet, George," said Mrs. Weasley. George's grin faded.
Not being able to hug Fred, while being in the same room as him really hurt, I turned from the crowd in the living room and walked out towards the yard. Looking up at the stars, I waited for someone to come. It felt like hours until a broom materialized directly above me and streaked towards the ground—
"Guys! It's them!" I screamed towards the house and ran to where they were headed.
I saw Hermione try run past me towards Ron, but I quickly grabbed her arm. 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, Hermione, and me.
"You're okay," Ron mumbled, before Hermione broke out of my grip, ran 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," I said, "we're still waiting for Bill and Fleur and MadEye and Mundungus."
"I'm going to tell Mum and Dad you're okay, Ron —"
Ginny ran back inside.
"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..."
"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 us, Kingsley walked away into the darkness toward the gate. I 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 —"
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 us. Bill and Fleur slid from its back, windswept but unhurt.
"Bill! 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."