Aurora | Harry Potter

chapter fifty-two

Tonight is an incredibly risky one for everyone in the Order. They've been planning this for a few weeks now and after much discussing, they decided on tonight to bring Harry to the now rebuilt Burrow. Their plan is for everyone underage or that still have the Trace on them to take some Polyjuice Potion to appear like Harry, so when they travel back to the Burrow, things will be more difficult if they face any problems.

The group consists of the real Alastor Moody, Remus, Tonks, Arthur, Hagrid, Kingsley, some sly, sluggish wizard called Mundungus, Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour (who are getting married soon, which is very exciting), Fred and George, Hermione and Ron.

I was able to go with them, but considering they already had enough people to pretend to be Harry, I told them that I'd stay behind with Molly and Ginny, preparing the house for everyone's arrival. 

As of now, they've been gone for about twenty minutes. 

To keep my mind off the whole ordeal, I've been cleaning throughout the house, now focusing on cleaning the windows at the staircase where Harry gifted me my promise ring on the night the Burrow was destroyed. The memories of that night coming back to me, I slide my wand back into my trouser pocket and marvel at the flower charm ring on my hand.

A small smile grows on my face as I look up and through the window, to see something move deep within the reeds. Doing a double-take, I take a step closer to the window and squint my eyes, trying to figure out what or who is outside.

Once I see a tall, large man with a complete head of hair, I sprint downstairs to alert Ginny and Molly. "Hagrid's and Harry are back!" I exclaim as I swing open the door to see Hagrid and Harry - both soaking wet - outside. As soon as me and Harry make eye contact, we both smile and instantly run at each other, our arms wrapping around each other. 

"Hey, I love you," he whispers in my ear, making me sigh happily. "Hi and I love you too," I reply as I pull out of the hug and press a quick kiss to his cheek.

"Harry! Hagrid!" Molly exclaims, now outside with Ginny. "What happened? Where are the others?" She asks, looking over the soaked pair. "Is no one else back yet?" Harry asks and I shake my head. Hagrid briefly explains that the Death Eaters were on them from the beginning, which means that we've been betrayed. 

Hagrid walks inside with Molly and Ginny, so I turn to Harry and go to say that Remus and Arthur should have been back now with either twins, but a deafening crack shuts me up. We turn around to see Remus holding up George, who is... missing an ear.

"Oh my god!" I mumble as I immediately rush over and help Remus bring him inside. We help to lay him down on the sofa, but then Remus forcefully grabs Harry by his shirt and shoves him against the wall. "What are you doing?" I shout, Remus pointing his wand directly at Harry's face.

"What... creature... sat in the corner the first time Harry Potter visited my office in Hogwarts?" He asks, incredibly out of breath. Harry rolls his eyes and tries to push Remus off, but he just shouts back at him with, "WHAT CREATURE?"

"Grin--Grindylow!" Harry replies, which calms Remus down and he releases his grip on Harry. "We'd been betrayed. Voldemort knew you were being moved tonight, I had to make sure you weren't an impostor," he explains, breathing repeatedly. Then, another crack is heard from outside.

Harry grabs my hand as we rush out to see Kingsley, followed by Hermione. Remus tells us to wait as he aims his wand at Kingsley, who has his raised also and he asks what were the last words Dumbledore told them both.

"Harry is the best hope we have," Remus responds, still very out of breath, "trust him." Kingsley sighs and lowers his wand, then turns to Harry and asks what gave him away. "Hedwig, I think," Harry replies, a tone of sadness in his voice, "she was trying to protect me." 

I press a light kiss to his cheek and squeeze his hand. Hedwig meant the world to him.

Two more loud cracks are heard and we see Bill arrive on a Thestral with Fleur, which I'm now able to see after the death of both Sirius and Dumbledore, plus Tonks with Ron. Instantly, Hermione sprints over to Ron and hugs him. 

"Deserves that, brilliant he was," Tonks adds as she greets Remus warmly, "I wouldn't be standing here without him." Hermione exclaims in surprise, followed by Ron's, "Always the tone of surprise." Me and Harry both rush over to the two and we all embrace each other tightly, glad to finally all be back together again. 

Finally, Arthur and Fred arrive. "Are we the last back? Where's George?" Arthur asks, which makes my head drop. They both rush inside and the four of us follow, Ron with an extremely worried look on his face. "He was hit with a curse, his left ear," I mutter as we walk inside to see George's pale body laying down on the sofa. 

Fred kneels down in front of his twin, tears in his eyes at his brother's pain. "How are you feeling, Georgie?" He asks as Molly carefully runs his fingers through George's hair. "Saint-like..." George mumbles, Fred's face growing in confusion. "Saint-like, I'm holy. I'm holey Fred, get it?" George repeats, pointing at his messed up ear. 

Molly and Fred chuckle slightly, know knowing that George will be completely fine. "Out of all the ear related jokes in the world," I start, now kneeling down beside Fred and looking at the joking Weasley, "and you choose 'I'm holey'?" Fred adds that it's pathetic, followed by a smirk from George, who claims that he's still the better looking twin. 

I stand up and walk back over to Harry, just as Bill walks into the living room, his face blank and emotionless.

"Mad-Eye's dead."