Aurelian (Dramione)

Chapter 35: Farewell,Home Sweet Home

Hermione tried to remember the last time she had waited so anxiously, but was unable to come up with an answer. She was too distracted by worry to think on it properly. Once Harry had left for the ministry, she had helped Molly wake Arthur, Ginny, and Ron. She had quickly checked in on Aurelian who still slept and left him in peace. The dreamless sleep draught would allow him to sleep for a few more hours still.

Everyone had gathered in the kitchen to await Harry's return, but they were left waiting much longer than they had anticipated. They debated whether they should make a quick trip to The Burrow for clothes, but decided they wouldn't until they had talked it over with Harry. Instead, they summoned clothes from where they were. Molly, through years of practice, was quite accomplished at summoning and was able to get clothing for herself and her husband. Ron and Draco, too, were able to summon their favorite outfits, because of their familiarity with them. Ginny, however, had difficulty and it took her a good thirty minutes to summon an outfit and another ten minutes to summon an outfit for Hermione. Hermione had been flustered to discover that she was unable to summon any of her clothing. She knew that she had the skill and was extremely aggravated by her unsuccessful attempts. After twenty minutes of trying she finally let the aching suspicion inside of her settle. The death eaters must have put up a ward that prevented her from summoning anything else from her home. As such, she was unable to summon either of her shield cloaks and borrowed Harry's wool shield cloak instead. It was rather large on her, but it was better than none at all.

Harry finally returned to Grimmauld Place a little more than two hours after he had left. He still wore his pajamas beneath his silk shield cloak, but he insisted that he would not waste anymore time by changing into something more appropriate. After a very brief three minute update, their group of six exited Grimmauld Place and disapparated. Molly and Narcissa stayed behind with Aurelian.

Three resounding pops echoed through the neighborhood as Harry, Hermione, and Draco took Ginny, Ron, and Arthur via side-along apparition. They appeared beside a tree on the side of the Creeveys' property. Harry said nothing as he released Ginny's hand and led the way to the front door. He rapped firmly on the front door and waited impatiently for someone to answer. He glanced over his shoulder at the group and was glad to see that all of them had their wands held tightly by their sides. The door opened slowly and the skinny form of Dennis Creevey looked on them with fear and confusion.

"Harry?" he asked nervously. "Wh-what-?"

"Let us in, Dennis. It's important," Harry interrupted.

Dennis paled and nervously opened the door. Harry swept in and pointed the others to the sitting room. "Get your parents. We need to talk." Harry's strong voice and serious mien did nothing to assuage Dennis's worry.

"Th-they're getting ready for work. Wh-what-?"

"Now, Dennis," Harry insisted.

Dennis nodded dumbly and disappeared down the hall. Harry walked into the sitting room and glanced at the others. He always seemed to have a difficult time looking people in the eye when he was in such a stony and determined mood. They listened as words were exchanged across the house, but they were unable to hear what was said.

Dennis reappeared less than a minute later with his parents behind him.

"Mr. Potter? Is something wrong?" Mr. Creevey asked in a business-like tone.

"Yes," Harry answered honestly. "They know that Dennis knows something."

"What?" Dennis breathed in panic.

"The death eaters know that he knows something and we're afraid they're going to come for him," Harry said frankly. "We need to get you to safety. We ask that you go pack your things immediately."