Harry and Amelia Potter

6.16

Harry and I trail Mr. Weasley through his cluttered workshop, which is chock-a-block with muggle objects: Steam irons. Toasters. Clock radios. Plugs. Lots of plugs. The party can still be heard, drifting faintly from the main house.

"You'll have to forgive Remus. It takes its toll... his condition."

I study him. "Are you alright, Mr. Weasley?"

Arthur tries a smile, but it fades. He frowns, pained. "We're being followed, all of us. Molly doesn't leave the house most days. It's not been easy."

Harry nods. "Did you get my owl?"

"Yes, but I thought it best if I replied in person. If Dumbledore's traveling, it's news to the Ministry. But perhaps that's the way Dumbledore wants it. As for Draco Malfoy, I know a bit more." I roll my eyes as Mr. Weasley says this. They don't know that I talked to Draco. No one does. It's true he's planning something, but I don't have a clue as to what it is.

"Go on." Harry says.

"I sent an agent to Borgin & Burkes. From what you describe, I think what you and Ron saw at the end of the summer, the object that Draco seemed so interested in... was a Vanishing Cabinet."

"A Vanishing Cabinet?" I question.

"They were all the rage when Voldemort first rose to power. You can imagine the appeal. Should the Death Eaters come calling, one needed only slip inside and disappear for an hour or two. But they're tricky contraptions. Require a tremendous amount of looking after. Eventually they fell out of favor."

"What happened to it? The one at Borgin & Burkes?"

"Nothing. It's still there." Harry and I nod, pondering this.

"Harry. Amelia. You know, I went through all this before, the last time around. Times like these, dark times, do funny things to people. It can bring them together and it can tear them apart. Things... speed up. It's what happens when you don't know if today will be your last."

Harry and I peer through the ripples of an imperfect windowpane, studying the others below. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley are saying goodbye to Tonks and Remus. A floorboard creaks. We turn, watches Ginny emerge into the light, in a robe, twisting her wet hair in a towel.

"Everyone gone to bed?" She asks.

"Soon." I reply.

"I don't sleep these days. So I wash my hair. Silly, right?" I smile and Harry just stares at her, the air prickling with silence. Ginny eyes him knowingly. "Happy Christmas, Harry." Then she looks to me. "Happy Christmas, Mia."

The rippled window behind Harry and I blushes with light. Ginny's eyes shift from Harry to the trees beyond.

"Oh my god..." she lets out.

We turn, our breath fogging the windowpane as, far below, flames snake out of the reeds and slither toward the house. Bellatrix emerges, peering up through the darkness toward Harry and I's silhouettes, a mad grin on her face. As she shrieks eerily, our eyes flash with hatred.

Harry and I burst through the front door, wands drawn, pelting towards Bellatrix. She grins, turns, and vanishes into the reeds.

"Mia! Harry, no!" Mr. Weasley tried to stop us.

Flames race up the porch steps, climb the walls of the house. Lupin draws his wand and races after Harry and I.

Ron, Fred and George appear, join Arthur as he dashes toward the smoking marsh. Arthur glances back as Ginny emerges. Fred, realizing what has happened and where I've gone, runs after us.

"No, Fred!" He turns back to Ginny. "Ginny, stay with your mother!" Without hesitation, she races for the reeds.

Harry and I careen through the marsh, reeds flashing past, then our eyes spy Bellatrix. She grins, looking like a crazed wood nymph, then flits off, her laughter mocking both of us. As we pursue, fire snakes through the reeds towards us.

Ginny and Fred, copper hair gleaming, race through the reeds. Bellatrix leads Harry and I on, grinning madly.

They both come dashing to a halt, chest heaving as she peers into the smoking marsh. A huge figure quivers through a veil of smoke. Ginny's eyes shift, see Bellatrix racing forward through the reeds, then shift back as the veil of smoke evaporates, reveals... Greyback.

Bellatrix makes an odd, clicking noise, like a signal, and Greyback edges forward, sweeping away the reeds in front of him and revealing Harry and I as we pelt forward.

"No, Harry!" Ginny yells.

"Mia! It's a trap!" Fred tells me.

We falter, looking toward Ginny and Fred's voices and see Greyback. Bellatrix stops dead, wheels in her tracks and, seeing us all, shrieks with rage. Raising her wand, she fires a bolt of red light which explodes in a shower of sparks around Ginny and Fred. They fire back, then wheel away, flashing through the reeds and coming face to face with... Greyback, sharp teeth glittering.

"Don't you smell clean." He grins at Ginny and growls at Fred.

Just then, bolts of blue bursts off Greyback's back and he turns, sees Harry and I standing several yards off.

As Greyback gives chase, Ginny and Fred pelt after. Harry, Ginny and Fred and I, the beast between us, faster and faster, our breaths shortening until Greyback rushes into a clearing, panting, glancing about.

Just then, two bolts of light blast from opposite sides of the clearing and Greyback is lifted in the air, slammed to the ground. As he regains his feet he looks into the reeds and sees Harry and I, wands poised.

He grins... when Bellatrix's odd, clicking signal carries through the night once again. Turning away, he exits. Harry and Ginny slowly step out of the reeds, stare at each other wordlessly. Fred takes my hand as we gather in a circle, ready to attack again if we need to. Then... Ron, George, Arthur and Lupin come thrashing into the clearing, stop.

All around us, the reeds smoke, the flames dying. Across the marsh, Bellatrix's cackle rises briefly on the air, then all is quiet.