Destiny Reversed

Chapter 16 Rats

"Please tell me you're joking, Minerva."

"I'm afraid not, James," McGonagall said solemnly, the crinkles around her eyes deepening. "Neither of them has been in class, and several other students –three Gryffindors and one Ravenclaw– have disappeared as well."

James felt his blood go cold, not even wanting to consider the possibility that – "Are you sure they left voluntarily, and not – not –"

"I assure you it was their choice," McGonagall said, handing James two pieces of parchment. "These were left in Violet's dorm."

James snatched the parchment rudely, his fingers crinkling the letter as they grasped Violet's words with desperation. How could they have been so stupid, so selfish? What were they thinking?

He remembered Lily's still features that day, shuddering as he imagined Violet and Harry's face the same way, with quiet lines only the dead could imitate. For a moment James couldn't breathe as Violet's handwriting bled together in a swirl of ink and blood, the room spinning rapidly as he fell heavily onto the floor, ignoring Minerva's outcry of concern.

"I'm okay," he slurred, shaking himself out of it. Just read the bloody letter, he scolded himself. See what's happened first. Feeling slightly embarrassed, James picked himself off the floor with as much dignity as he could and tried not to rip the parchment in half.

Dad, Uncle Remus, and Uncle Sirius (and Professor McGonagall too, I suppose),

I'm really sorry. Harry decided to take off and hunt for the Horcruxes himself, so me, Neville, Hermione Granger, Ginny and Ron Weasley, and Luna Lovegood went after him, not just to bring him back but to help him too. I know it's dangerous, and I'd thought Harry was stupid for going in the first place too –at least, at first. But he was doing it for Mum, to make sure it ends now before anyone else dies. I can't properly explain right now, maybe not ever, but please trust us and know that we can do a lot more good out here than in Hogwarts, wondering every morning if, when the owls come, we'll get a notice saying one of you had died. If you can, would you get Neville's letter to his Grams? Thanks. Please don't worry about us; I love you all.

Violet

James closed his eyes, and the image of his children lying dead in a ditch somewhere took over any possible hope of rational thought, of the impersonal detachment an Auror needed to keep a cool head in battle.

Hermione Granger? Ron Weasley? He knew Ginny was Harry's girlfriend, but as far as he knew, his son had never so much as spoken to the other two, nevertheless manage to drag them into a suicide mission.

Definitely true Gryffindors, James thought begrudgingly. Brave and reckless.

"How long ago did they leave?" he asked.

"Before breakfast today, I think, but Harry must have left earlier, perhaps the night before."

"All right," James said slowly, pocketing the note. "Can we get an Order team together? I'll alert the Ministry, but I doubt they're going to be of much use, even if it is the Boy-Who-Lived among the missing."

McGonagall pursed her lips, knowing as well as James that the Order was spread thin enough as it was. "Take Sirius and Peter; Remus's position at the werewolf camp is too fragile right now to pull him out."

"Thanks." James paused. "You wouldn't happen to know the location of any of the Horcruxes, would you?"

She shook her head. "I don't, but maybe the Headmaster would," McGonagall replied, gesturing to the painting behind her.