Okay, for starters let me say this is probably full of errors... you all know me, so you know I hate to proofread. lol So please overlook the errors unless they don't make sense, then I will fix them :P Anyways here is the first chapter of Part 3, I hope everyone likes it! :)
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I kept my eyes closed, unwilling to open them. I just wanted so badly to freeze time, to never let another minute pass.
"Leianna," George's voice breaks into my thoughts. I debated on pretending like I never heard him, but when he removed his arms from around me my eyes opened on their own accord.
"I have to get ready," he tells me as he sits up straight.
"Do you really have to go?" I ask, yet again. It made my stomach flip just thinking about what he would be doing in less than an hour.
"You know I do," he replies standing up, "We all do."
"It's so dangerous," I retort drawing my feet up and tucking them under me.
"They don't know we are moving him tonight," George says as he leans down and kisses the top of my head.
"It just scares me," I whisper up to him.
He pulls back and stares down at me, a hint of a smile on his lips.
"I just wish I could go with you George," my eyes never leaving his, "It isn't fair."
"You know you can't," he states as he backs up and reaches for his jacket across the headboard of his bed.
"And why not, I'm of age," I argue with him, "I'm seventeen now."
"Barely," he laughs.
"I don't like it," I state crossing my arms; "I don't like you going out there, risking your life while I am sitting here."
"I prefer it that way," George exclaims as he walks in front of me and takes my hands. He lifts me up off of the bed, "I want you to stay safe, I couldn't risk you getting hurt."
"Well imagine how I feel," I mutter under my breath. It wasn't right, I felt like I wasn't doing my part to help. When they decided the plan to move Harry tonight, I was one of the first to volunteer. However, George convinced everyone that it would be better I stayed at the burrow. Part of me felt like the assumed I couldn't handle it, like I was still just a child.
"I understand, but Leianna, it's going to be okay," he tells me.
I go to argue more with him but before I could get it out I hear Molly calling for George.
"I guess it's time."
He lets go of my hands and makes his way towards the door.
I let out a deep breath and reluctantly follow behind him.
Downstairs, everyone had already assembled together.
"There you are," Molly says to George as she walks towards the staircase, "They're going over the plan again."
George steps off the staircase and to where his twin was standing with the rest of the Order.
"Leianna dear," Molly says smiling to me as she holds her hand out.
I place mine in hers and she pulls me close, placing her hand on my shoulder.
"What's going on Molly?" I whisper to her.
"They're pairing up," she explains, "They already have everyone paired except..."
"George, you partner up with Remus," Mad-Eye Moody says as he points his cane at George.
George steps from his brother's side to go stand with Remus. Remus smiles at George and brings him into a hug.
"We all are aware of what is going to happen tonight," Mad- Eye states looking to everyone, "
We need to be quick about it, no telling what might happen."
"Do you think the Dark Lord knows?" Ron asks, speaking up.
"He knows we plan to move Harry, but he doesn't know its tonight," Arthur replies first.
Another man stepped up, I assume it was Kingsley, "We gave the Ministry false information, so that should buy us some time," he states.
"But still, he might have Deatheaters scouting the area," I state geting everyone's attention.
"She's right," Mad-Eye says, "I suspect that too."
"Then what are we to do?" a man I have never seen before states.
Mad-Eye gives him a stern look, "We are to stick to the plan Mandungus, get Harry out at any cost."
"Yes, he is what's most important," Remus says tightening his grip on his wife's hand.
"So when should we suspect you back?" Molly asks.
They begin going into the details and I step around everyone to where George was standing with Remus.
"Leianna dear, how are you doing?" Remus asks smiling down at me.
"I am good, I meant to give you and your wife my congratulations," I say to him.
"Yes, well," he says looking over to her, "It was just a small wedding, nothing extravagant."
"It was enough," Nymphadora chimes in kissing Remus on the cheek.
"Perhaps we will see a wedding real soon, when the war is over?" Remus questions looking from me to George.
"Actually we have a wedding next week," I say, "Bill and Fleur."
"Oh yes, but you know I was..."
To my relief and dismay, Mad-Eye cuts him off, "It's time everyone."
I look to George and reach for his hand.
"Let's get this over with everyone," Mad-Eye says as he begins wobbling towards the back door.
"Be careful," I tell George as I walk beside him as he made his way out.
"I will love," he replies squeezing my hand.
George walks down the step and stands with the other members of the Order.
"On the count of three everyone!" Mad-Eye shouts.
"One!" he shouts, and everyone begins mounting what object they would be flying tonight.
"Two!" Mad-Eye continues. I look over at George. "Be careful," I yell to him causing him to nod.
"Three!"
With that everyone takes off, leaving just Molly, Ginny, and me.
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I look up at the clock, like I had the whole entire night.
"Leianna stop," Ginny says from across the room. She was sitting in the recliner while I was leaning against the archway that stood between the kitchen and sitting area, biting my nails.
"What?" I ask shrugging my shoulders.
"Just stop, you're making me nervous," she replies as she rests her chin on her palm.
Just then Molly walks beside me, making her way into the sitting room. I stand straight, "Have you heard anything?"
She shakes her head, "No, haven't heard from anyone."
I exhale loudly, "Shouldn't we have heard something by now?" I ask looking from Molly to Ginny, "I mean, shouldn't someone be back?"
"Leianna dear..." Molly goes to say but she is cut off by the sound of a loud crash outside.
After the initial shock wears off, we all make a dash for the door.
When Mrs. Weasley opens the door I felt both relieved to see someone had made it back, but more nervous cause it wasn't who I had suspected.
"Who is it?" Ginny asks passing me.
I say nothing cause she already seen who it was. Both she and Molly make their way towards Harry, who looked to be a little shaken. Hagrid stood beside him, not as shaken but I can tell he could be better.
I step off the staircase and join them.
"Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" Molly asks him as she helps support him up.
"What do you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Harry breathes heavily.
I look to Ginny whose expression mirrored mine.
"Harry," I say drawing his attention, "You are the first back."
His face loses color and he looks to Molly.
"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 explained worry etching his voice.
I could see the uneasiness in Molly's expression, and I knew the others could see it to.
"Thank goodness you're all right," she finally says, pulling Harry into a
hug.
"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" Hagrid asks cutting through the sentimental moment, "Fer medicinal purposes?"
Molly says nothing as she backs away from Harry, with a slight nod she turns and makes her way to the house.
We all watch her descending figure, awkward silence filling the space.
I turn to Harry, who gives me a weak smile.
"Thank God you're alright," I say as I walk towards him throwing my arms around him.
"Ow..." he says by my sudden attack.
"Oh, sorry," I say, loosening my grip on him.
"So'kay," he tells me returning my embrace, "I'm sorry I can't tell you anymore," he whispers in my ear, low so no one else could hear him.
"It's okay," I say stepping back from him, "I'm just glad you made it here safe."
"So, there is no news on why the others haven't returned?" he asks looking from me to Ginny.
"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them." Ginny noticed looking over at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," she says pointing at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third and," she checks her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."
"Why wasn't I told this?" I ask looking over to her.
"We didn't want you to worry," Ginny replies, "We already seen and badly upset you were to begin with."
I look away from her, half angry and half hurt, I let out a deep breath just as Molly reappears with the brandy. She hands it to Hagrid who uncorks the bottle and downs it.
I go to comment on it but Ginny yells out.
"Mum!"
We all turn to see what had her attention, and several yards away there was a blue light then I could make out the figure of Remus, then a patch of red hair.
"George," I say relieved.
But as I approached them I notice that George was heavily relying on Remus to stand. Then, I see the blood.
"Oh god," I say covering my mouth with my hand. On their own accord, my feet begin to pick up pace.
"What happened to him?" I ask once I am finally close enough to Remus for him to hear me.
Remus doesn't respond, he only looks past me.
The next thing I know Harry was beside me, grabbing hold of George's feet lifting him up.
Then Molly was there, "Take him to the sofa," she says, trying to keep calm.
I follow them to the sitting area, "Leianna, go into the kitchen and get me a hot cloth," Molly says looking at the damage done to her son as Harry and Remus laid him gently on the sofa.
I wanted to stay, to tell her I didn't want to leave him, but I knew he needed help, so I unwillingly left his side to go to the kitchen.
I grab a cloth and walk over to the sink.
As I was wetting it I hear the sound of objections. I turn around to see Remus with Harry by the collar of his shirt.
"What in bloody hell are you doing?" I demand, yelling at Remus.
"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" Remus asks Harry, leaving me baffled as to what was going on.
"Answer me!" he yells.
"A...a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?" Harry finally says just as shocked.
Lupin releases Harry and I step closer to them.
"What was that about?" Hagrid asks, repeating my question. I hadn't even noticed he was there.
"I'm sorry, but I had to check" Remus replies.
"We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew Harry was being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan," he says as he then turns to Harry, "You might have been an impostor."
"So why aren' you checkin' me?" Hagrid asks him.
"You're half-giant," Remus replies. "The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."
"Yes, we very well know that, but what I don't understand is what is going on, and why is George covered in blood," I say getting all of their attention. Instead of waiting for a reply I push past them and into the sitting room, where George laid.
"Thank you love," Molly says as I hand her the wet cloth.
As she washes the blood off I begin to see what happened, "His ear!" I say shocked.
I look back towards the kitchen where Remus stood watching now.
"Will George be okay?" Harry asks him, obviously seeing the irritation on my face, I wanted answers.
"I think so, although there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been cursed off," he says.
My mouth falls open, "Cursed off?"
Before he could respond, there was a scuffing from outside. Everyone dashed for the back door, leaving me alone with George and Molly.
"Go see who it is," Molly says, "Please."
I look over to her then nod, standing back up.
I turn and make my way to the door.
Outside I see Hermione in Harry's arms, and Kingsley and Lupin were exchanging words with their wands out on each other.
When there wands went down, I step further outside.
"Who else is back?" Kingsley asks Remus.
"Only Harry, Hagrid, George, and me," Remus replies.
I see Hermione bring her hand to her lips.
"What happened to you?" Lupin asked Kingsley.
"Followed by five, injured two, might've killed one," Kingsley says, "and we saw You-Know-Who as well, he joined the chase halfway through but vanished pretty quickly. Remus, he can-" his words were cut off but Harry finishes them. "Fly, I saw him too, he came after Hagrid and me."
"So that's why he left, to follow you!" Kingsley state adding the pieces up, "I couldn't understand why he'd vanished. But what made him change targets?"
"Harry behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike," Remus explains looking over to Harry.
"Stan?" Hermione asks, "But I thought he was in Azkaban."
"Hermione, there's obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has hushed up. Traver's hood fell off when I cursed him, he's supposed to be inside too. But what happened to you, Remus? Kingsley says looking from Hermione to Remus, "Where's George?"
"He lost an ear," Remus states bluntly.
"Lost an ear?" Hermione repeats in a high voice.
"Snape's work," Remus says.
"Snape?" I ask, "Professor Snape?"
"Remus, you didn't say..." Harry begins to say but Remus cut him off.
"He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a specialty 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."
Without waiting to hear more I turn and make my way back to the house. I pass through the kitchen and make my way to the sofa where George laid.
"How is he?" I ask Molly as I bend down next to him.
"He's better, mumbling some," she replies, "Who is back?"
"Hermione and Kingsley," I reply.
"That's good," she says in a low voice as she stands up.
I reach out and touch George's face. I couldn't help but look at the damage that was done. There was only a hole where his ear use to be.
I heard the others file into the kitchen but I stayed at George's side. Then I heard another loud sound coming from the kitchen. It sounded like Arthur yelling.
I look up just as he and Fred make their way into the sitting room.
Arthur walks over beside me and falls to his knees. Fred, who was at a loss of words, stood over the sofa looking down at George.
The noise seemed to have woken George up because he stirred.
"How do you feel, Georgie?" Fred says in a low voice.
George's fingers went up to where his ear use to be, "Saintlike" he murmured.
"What's wrong with him?" Fred asks, "Is his mind affected?"
"Saintlike," George says again as he opens his eyes and looks up at his brother. "You see . . . I'm holy....holy Fred, get it?"
I started laughing and Molly began to cry.
"Pathetic," Fred says to George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humor before you, you go for holy?"
I lean up and kiss George on the cheek causing him to turn to me.
"Hey you," he says smiling.
"Hey yourself," I say fighting back the tears.
He then looks over to his mother, "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum."
He then looks past her to where Harry stood "Hi, Harry, you are Harry, right?"
"Yeah, I am," Harry says stepping closer.
"Well, at least we got you back okay," George tells him, "Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled round my sickbed?"
"They're not back yet, George," Molly says causing the color to drain from his face.
I watch as Ginny motions to Harry to follow her, causing me to wonder what else was going on.
Instead of following them like I debated, I turn my attention back to George.
"You know, you promised me you would be make it back safe," I say as I reach up and touch his face.
"Well," George says looking away from me, "I might have been overestimating my abilities."
I chuckle, "I'll forgive you this time, but never worry me like that again," I tell him as I stoke his cheek with the back of my hand.
He turns his head sideways and kisses my hand lightly, "I won't."
Just then we hear the sound of someone else.
I shot my head up to see Ron and Tonks making their way inside.
I stand up and try to listen to them.
"So what kept you? What happened?" Remus asks sounding rather angry.
"Bellatrix," she replies, "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."
All Remus did was nod to his wife's story.
"So what happened to you lot?" Tonks asks, turning to Harry, Hermione, and Kingsley.
They began recounting everything that had happened up until this point. I checked on George who was now talking with Fred. I go to where everyone else was, listening to all their stories, what had happened, trying to catch everything. As much as I hate to admit it, I was listening for the names of the Deatheaters they had encountered, hoping that none of them were Draco.
As everyone was talking. Molly lets out a cry.
We all turn to see her making her way outside, to where Bill and Fleur were now standing.
I follow everyone out and Molly runs up to Bill throwing her arms around him.
Bill, however, looks past his mother to his father.
"Mad-Eye's dead," he states.
I gasp, as did a lot of people. I cover my mouth and stifle the urge to yelp.
"We saw it," Bill explains, "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.
Remus quickly reassured him, "Of course you couldn't have done anything."
Everyone fell silent, I couldn't believe that Mad-Eye was dead; he was one of the most powerful, one of the smartest wizards I knew.
Slowly I turn and make my way inside, since there was no reason for standing outside anymore, everyone that was able to return was back.
I walk into the sitting room where George and Fred were laughing.
My eyes lock with George's and his smile disappears.
"Leianna," he says concern etching his features.
I look up to him, "Mad-Eye is dead," I say in a low voice.
Fred and George looked to each other then back to me, "How?" they asked in union.
"Voldemort," I said simply.
I walk on over to where they says and took a seat between them.
Just then everyone else began making their way into the living space.
Bill, who was standing off to the side spoke first. He reached into a cupboard and pulled out glasses and a bottle of Firewhiskey.
"Here," he said, and with a wave of his wand he sent full glasses soaring through the room to all of us.
"Mad-Eye," Bill says holding up his glass of Firewhiskey.
"Mad-Eye," we all said.
I lift my glass and fight the urge to spit the whiskey out. The whiskey burned my throat as it made its way down.
"I never thought I would ever see you drink," George says getting my attention.
"Normally you wouldn't," I reply, "But this was an exception."
He gives me a weak smile which I return.
"I think you have had enough for tonight," I say to him as I reach for his hand.
"Molly," I say getting her attention. "I'm going to walk with George up to his room," I tell her. She gives me a weak nod and I stand up, "Come on you."
George pulls himself to his feet and we both head towards the staircase.
As we walked I couldn't help but hear the words traitor and trust. Someone who we had trusted with our lives had betrayed us. And as a result George has permanently lost an ear, others were hurt, and Mad-Eye was killed.
Once I finally made it to George's room I helped him into bed.
"Sleep well George," I say as I bend down and kiss his cheek. I pull back and go to turn but he grabs my hand, "Won't you stay?"
I chuckle, "You know I can't, you mother will have a fit."
"No she won't," he argues, "Not tonight, won't you just lay beside me?"
I debate it in my head. I didn't want Molly to get mad, but I felt like George didn't need to be alone also.
"Very well," I say to him as I lift the blanket. I slide into bed beside him and lay my arm across his chest as he wraps his arm securely around me.
"Goodnight Leianna," he says softly.
"Goodnight George," I reply.