intoxicating. / / fred weasley / / under revision

Chapter 86

"MOODY! WATCH OUT!"

"MAEVE HOLD ON!"

Harry and Hagrid arrived at the burrow first. Molly, Ginny, Julia, Sirius and Emmeline ran out of the house when they heard them arrive.

"Harry, Hagrid?! What happened, where are the others?" Sirius said

"No-one else is back?" Harry said

"No." Ginny said.

"The death eaters were on to us at the start, Molly" Hagrid said 

"Well at least you're safe" Molly said.

"They got Hedwig." He told them, Ginny pulled him into a hug he did not feel he deserved.

"Thank goodness you're all right," she said.

"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" asked Hagrid a little shakily, "Fer medicinal purposes?"

She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, Harry knew that she wanted to hide her face. He turned to Ginny and she answered his unspoken plea for information at once.

"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," Ginny said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," she pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Dad 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."

"What about Maeve?" He asked in a panic

"No. Not yet." She told him

Mrs. Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.

"Mum!" shouted Ginny 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. Harry knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.

Harry ran forward and seized George's legs. Together, he and Lupin carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the living room, where they laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped and Harry's stomach lurched: One of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.

"Oh my boy!" Molly yelled.

No sooner had Mrs. Weasley bent over her son that Lupin grabbed Harry by the upper arm and dragged him, none too gently, back into the kitchen and pushed Harry against the wall violently.

"Oi!" said Hagrid indignantly, "Le' go of him! Le' go of Harry!"

Lupin ignored him.

"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.

"What was that 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."