The Other Potter (George Weasley)

Thirty-Two.

Draco was brought out to identify us, he studied our features one by one, and he said he couldn't tell if Harry was Harry or not thanks to Hermione's stinging jinx. Because he wasn't sure, they couldn't call Voldemort to us. They wanted to be completely sure. I didn't understand why Draco was lying. He knew Ron, Hermione, and I, he knew it was us. Then they asked him to identify Hermione, because her picture was in the Daily Prophet but Draco still acted unsure.
   
That was when Bellatrix Lestrange entered the drawing room, asking her sister what was going on. She was certain that Hermione was the Mudblood girl from the article. Bellatrix, Greyback, and Lucius Malfoy argued over who got to call Voldemort to the Manor and who would take credit for bringing Harry in when Bellatrix abruptly turned to the other snatchers.
   
“STOP!” shrieked Bellatrix, she pointed at a snatcher, “What is that?”
   
He had the sword of Gryffindor on his belt. She was not happy about this. The snatcher shrugged and said, “Sword.”
 
“Give it to me!” she hissed at him.
   
“It’s not yours, miss. It’s mine, I reckon, I found it in their tent.”
   
She took out her wand and then stunned Greyback, Scabior, and all of his goons and they fell to the ground in loud thuds. She asked where we had found the sword, we said we just found it, and she accused us of lying, saying Snape sent it to her vault at Gringotts and that we must have broken in there, which we didn’t. She sends Wormtail to bring us down to the cellar while she thinks of what to do, but she says to leave Hermione for her.
   
“No!” Shouted Ron in protest, “you have me, keep me!”
   
But that didn’t satisfy Bellatrix, she wanted Hermione. It was dark in the cellar of Malfoy Manor, so Ron clicked his Deluminator and there was light. That’s when we found Luna, Dean Thomas, the wandmaker Ollivander, and a Goblin named Griphook were all down here too. We heard Hermione’s blood curdling screams as Bellatrix tortured her, Ron was the most in agony at this, he kept shouting her name over and over like that was going to do something.
   
“Draco,” we hear Bellatrix’s voice, “Get me the Goblin!”
   
“Griphook!” says Harry running over to him, “You have to tell them the sword is a fake. Please! They must not know it’s the real one!”
   
We heard Draco’s feet coming down the stairs, Ron clicks the Deluminator making it dark again. With a shaking voice Draco says, “Get back! All of you get back! Or, I-I’ll kill you!”
   
We do as we’re told, as we watch Draco grab Griphook and drag him away.
   
"Can you turn the light back on, Ron?" I ask once Draco is gone.
   
“Oh right, sorry,” he says and clicks the Deluminator again, revealing Dobby the house elf, who had just Apparated into our midst. We were all so happy to see Dobby, to know that he can Apparate in and out of here. We made him take Ollivander and Luna to Bill and Fleur’s house. There was a loud crack, and then Wormtail was in the room as soon as they were gone. Harry and Ron launched themselves onto him, knocking him down. Harry put a hand over his mouth as Ron took his wand from him and snapped it before his eyes.
   
He grabbed onto Harry’s neck, choking him with the silver fingers, and Harry told him he owed him his life, and Wormtail seemed to agree to this, even if he didn’t say anything. The hand released from Harry’s throat and then he started choking himself, but it seemed to be out of his control. Harry tried to make it stop, but it wouldn’t budge. Wormtail eventually stopped fighting it and closed his eyes for the last time.
   
First James, then Sirius, and now Peter. Remus was now the only living Marauder left.
   
Dobby came back then and Apparated us to the living room then, where Griphook was assuring Bellatrix that the sword was a copy, even though it wasn’t. We started stunning everyone we could.
   
“STOP!” Shouts Bellatrix, she was holding Hermione in front of her with a dagger held at her neck, “Stop this or she dies!” We listened and stopped. “Drop your wands. Now!” We did, and they were kicked towards Draco, who picked them up.
    
Dobby, who was up on the chandelier that was above where Bellatrix and Hermione were standing, started to use his magic to make it fall. Bellatrix pushed Hermione in the direction of Ron, who caught her in his arms heroically, as she saved herself from being trampled. Harry Stunned Lucius then as I ran over to Draco, kicked him in the gut, knocking him down, and Harry took our wands back from him, including some that aren’t ours that were in his hands as well. We ran back to the others in time to Apparate out of here.
   
Bellatrix throws her dagger at us, but it misses us as we leave, or, at least I thought it had missed us. It hit Dobby in the chest. He swayed slightly, and  stars reflected in his wide, shining eyes. “Dobby – NO – HELP!” screams Harry as he runs to Dobby, holding the little elf in his arms. Tears are in mine and Hermione’s eyes now. “Don’t die don’t die don’t die – ”
   
“Harry…Potter…” And then with a little shudder the elf became still, and his eyes were nothing more than great glassy orbs, sprinkled with light from the stars they could not see.
   
As we watched the Bill was now outside, watching Harry clutching the tiny elf. He patted me on the shoulder and told me to get inside and stay safe with the others, and I helped Ron take Hermione inside. When we got inside the shell cottage, Fleur gasped and said, “Hermione! Oh no!” and ran over to us.
   
“Not that we’re not happy to see all of you,” Starts Fleur as she starts to look over Hermione, “But what exactly made you decide to come here?”
   
“It was Ron’s idea, actually,” I say.
   
“You guys were so welcoming to me last time, and we needed a safe place to go, it was the first place I thought of,” says Ron, sheepishly.
   
“Of course,” says Fleur. She stands up and plants a kiss onto Ron’s cheek and then takes off into the kitchen to grab something.
   
“She’s made tea, come on guys, let’s move into the kitchen,” says Bill, we all follow him to the kitchen.
   
“I’m going to go check on Harry,” Ron says sternly and takes off out of the house.
   
"You guys actually missed Fred and George," says Bill as he raged through the cabinets for some tea cups. "I took them to Auntie Muriel's a few hours ago. If you'd just been a few hours sooner."
   
Well that didn't make me feel any better. In fact, it did the opposite. I could have seen George in person, hugged him for real, taken in his scent and touch, and actually just held him for a moment but we were just a few hours too late.
   
“Really?” I ask.
   
“Yeah, now that Ron is with you guys, it’s not safe anymore,” says Bill, “Dad always said it was a matter of time before we had to move.”
   
“What about their joke shop?” I ask.
   
“Temporarily shut down. They can’t risk it now that it’s not safe. I'm sure they're still going to do mail order and drive Auntie Muriel crazy."
   
“I have a bad feeling that we’re just getting started,” huffs Hermione.
   
“Yeah,” I say nodding, “me too.”
   
“What are you guys even doing?” Asks Bill, “I know it’s something from Dumbledore, but you guys can trust me. I am in the Order.”
   
“Lupin tried that same line on us, too, mate,” I say putting an end to it. “It’s not going to work. I’ll tell you exactly what we told him, I’m sorry, but even though you’re in the order if Dumbledore didn’t trust you to tell you then we can’t be the ones that tell you.”
   
“But he trusted a bunch of teenagers? It doesn’t make any sense, and we’re all out here worried sick about where you guys are and what you’re doing. When Ron showed up here on Christmas he looked sick, like he hadn’t eaten in months. Actually, you guys do, too. Are you hungry?” Hermione and I were both too shaken still to think about food, we both tell him no,  “I just don’t like worrying about my brother,” he brings his eyes to Hermione, “And his friends,” and he brings his eyes to me, “and my future sister-in-law.”
   
"You’re not supposed to say that out loud, mate, you’ll jinx it.” That makes us all laugh. It felt so good to laugh again.
   
“Like we don’t know it’s going to happen,” scoffs Ron, who entered the kitchen again, "You and George were made for each other, anyone who has ever been around you two for more than an hour would say so."
   
"We'll see if I make it back to him alive," I say, looking down at my tea. 
   
“I’m just glad Ginny was on school Holidays,” says Bill, “If she’d been at Hogwarts, they could have taken her by now. At least now we know she’s safe, too.”
   
He looked around and saw Harry standing in the doorway.
   
“How is everyone protected?” Asked Harry.
   
“Fidelius Charm. Dad’s secret-keeper. And we’ve done it on this cottage too; I’m secret-keeper here. None of us can go to work, but that’s not the most important thing at the moment. Once Ollivander and Griphook are safe I’m taking them to Muriel’s too.”
   
Harry then tells us that he finished digging Dobby a grave, and we all went outside to bury him and say our final goodbyes to him. Harry had even made a tiny tombstone with a large rock that had some nice words scratched into it:

Here lies Dobby, a free elf.

I sat outside with my brother, at Dobby's grave while everyone else went back inside. I'd never seen him cry so much in my life. Through sobs, he said, "I want you to go with the others when Bill takes them to his aunt's."
   
"What?" I ask, confused. "Harry," I say, "I'm not leaving you."
   
"And I can't lose you!" He exclaims. "You need to be safe. Please. You can be with George and the rest of the Weasley's. I'll know you're safe."
   
"But I won't know that you're safe, Harry. No. I'm sorry but I'm not going. I'm staying with you. I'm not leaving you."
   
He looks at me, tears string out of his green eyes. "Please? I'm begging you."
   
I shake my head, "Harry we've come all the way. I'm not backing out now. You can't make me. I will be perfectly safe with you."
   
"Fine," he says through a sniffle. "But if you get hurt I won't hesitate to say I Told You So."

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Here's 32!

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-Emily Winchester.