Chapter 1

Harry clicked Hedwig's empty cage closed and tossed the last of his school things into his trunk. The Gryffindor stacked the trunk and cage under his window, tucked his wand into his inside jacket pocket and leaned his Firebolt against the wall.

After everything else was packed or thrown out Harry reached into his desk and pulled out a letter he'd been working on periodically throughout the last few days. When he first started Harry had no clue what to write. He'd spent hours staring blankly at the clean parchment before him and nothing crossed his mind. More then once Harry started the letter only to crumple it up and toss it in the trash. Just when he was going to give up on it entirely inspiration hit like a can of yellow paint.

Two days ago the summer had reached its highest temperatures in over five years. Harry had been outside taking a break from painting the outside of the house even though it wasn't a bright idea in the blistering heat. Vernon had come home angry and decided that he wanted an off white house instead of a pale yellow one. He'd made Harry start completely over. As he had not yet turned 17 Harry was unable to use magic outside of school and repainting the house took hours.

That night the teen had sat at his desk and began writing furiously. He wrote every nasty thing he'd ever wanted to say to his aunt, uncle, and cousin. It wasn't until Harry reached the end of the third page that he realized that there were a few splotchy parts marking up his letter where angry tears had escaped. Writing had brought up painful memory after painful memory. The most hurtful by far was the still raw emotion from losing Sirius.

The Dursley's had never been a family to Harry and they'd known him for his entire life but Sirius had hardly known Harry for less then a day when he offered to have Harry live with him four long years ago. It was cruel that Sirius had been ripped out of Harry's life but the Dursley's remained to constantly remind him what a burden he was to everyone and how worthless he was.

The finished letter ended up being three rolls of parchment long. Harry had read through his work twice in the last couple of hours and he wasn't completely sure if he actually wanted to leave it for his family to find. What difference would it make? After a short debate Harry set the letter on his pillow where Aunt Petunia would see it if she would come to strip the sheets or something.

The small clock on Harry's desk shone bright in the dimly lit room.

11:45

Harry shook his head to try and rid his mind of all the memories fighting their way forward. He shoved the thoughts to the back of his mind and looked out the window expectantly.

Not long ago he'd received a letter from Dumbledore explaining that on the eve of Harry's seventeenth birthday someone would come to pick him up around midnight. It didn't mention who would come or where they would go and honestly Harry didn't care about the details. All he knew was that this would be the last time he left Number 4 Privite Drive and he couldn't be happier. It had been Dumbledore who suggested Harry write a good-bye letter to his relatives in the first place saying that it might bring some sort of closure. Harry didn't understand but the letter was written and he was packed, all that mattered now was how soon he'd be able to leave.

The young Gryffindor paced around his room for a while, not knowing what to do with himself. He'd originally planned to sleep until someone came for him but that idea had been squashed.

Harry went through a mental checklist to make sure he'd packed everything.

11:55

Harry could feel his heart rate beginning to speed up with anticipation.

11:57

The Gryffindor bounced excitedly on the balls of his feet and took deep breaths, trying to calm his racing heart. This was the last time he'd ever leave Privet Drive. He never had to come back, ever! This was already one of the best birthday's Harry had ever had in his entire life.

12:00

Harry punched the air excitedly and pulled out his wand. He shot sparks into the air and levitated all his belongings to the other side of his room so they sat beside the door just to feel the rush of power course through his veins.

Knock, Knock, BOOM

Harry jumped violently. His door fell to the ground exposing three silhouettes in his doorway. Harry was relieved the Dursley's had gone to visit relatives in another part of London or else Uncle Vernon would be storming up the stairs to complain about the racket.

Lupin stepped forward shaking his head with his hand still raised in the action of knocking on Harry's door. Harry heard Tonks laughing behind him and the irritated grunt of Moody.

"I never really liked that door anyway. It squeaked too much." Harry said with a shrug. Lupin and Tonks laughed. The werewolf stepped forward and pulled Harry into an embrace.

"Happy birthday, Harry." Lupin said warmly. The pair broke apart and Harry beamed up at the man.

"Thanks Moony." He said just before he was pulled into another hug.

"Happy birthday!" Tonks cried happily. Harry hugged the witch back and thanked her as well.

"Come on let's get on with this. We're already behind schedule." Moody grumbled. Tonks waved him off and began shrinking all of Harry's belongings and tucking them into the knapsack she had on her back. Harry thanked her and grabbed his Firebolt.

"I didn't expect all of you to be coming. I just thought one or two people would come." Harry admitted as the group descended the stairs. When they reached the bottom step Harry realized he'd spoken to soon.

"This looks oddly familiar." He muttered. Lupin and Tonks chuckled. Just as in Harry's fifth year when a large group of Order members volunteered to pick the Gryffindor up Harry could see the faces of people he knew and others he didn't. This was a smaller group as there were only about 15 people but it was still a bit of a shock to see so many people in the house. Harry was able to greet a few before Moody silenced everyone.

"This isn't a social event, everyone shut your yaps!" he snapped. Silence fell and everyone turned to face the ex-auror.

"The protection surrounding this house has just been lifted. If our sources are correct we should be attacked within the next few minutes."

Tonks leaned closer to Harry.

"I wish he'd stop sugar coating everything and be a little blunter don't you?" she asked with a wink. Harry chuckled before turning his attention back to Moody who was double checking that everyone knew the plan.

"Group A will head due north. Group B you're headed south. You are the diversion groups. Group C is to fly in a wide circle around Potter's group."

Moody looked at the clock hanging on the living room wall.

"Everyone get outside and be ready to go on my signal." Moody commanded.

The group obeyed and soon everyone was standing in a long line down the middle of the street. Harry could hardly contain his excitement. He couldn't wait to feel the rush of the wind in his face or the thrill shoot through his veins as they rose higher into the sky. Harry was pulled out of his daydream by the distinctive sound of a whip cracking over twenty consecutive times. Dark hooded figures appeared on both sides of the street.

"Get in the air!" Harry heard Tonks order him.

Harry followed Lupin and Tonks 100 feet straight into the air. He saw aurors circling them and fighting off the Death Eaters that had also brought brooms. Harry raised his wand.

"No Harry, don't fight just focus on getting out of here!" Lupin called to the teen from the right.

"We're way out numbered here. We have to fight!" Harry argued.

"That's not part of the plan." Tonks called from Harry's left.

"What is the plan?" Harry snapped.

"Get you to safety." Lupin and Tonks answered together.

Harry sighed heavily. It seemed like he was always the center of major plans and courses of action but he seldom actually got to take part in anything. Everyone wanted Harry to sit in a corner and let them protect him.

Like Sirius did.

Through the deafening wind Harry could just make out the sounds of battles edging closer. Even though Harry's broom had superior speed Tonks and Lupin were still on either side of him. If Harry really wanted to he could lose them easily since they were only riding Nimbus 2000s and neither of them were very strong flyers in the first place.

A displaced curse cracked over head and Harry instinctively ducked. Out of the corners of his eyes he saw Lupin and Tonks draw their wands.

"Harry keep flying straight. Another group will meet you after about 100 yards!" Lupin called before turning away and zooming off to meet an on coming cluster of Death Eaters. Tonks nodded at Harry and turned to follow her fiancé.

For a moment Harry actually considered doing what she said. Then he heard it.

It had come as such a shock to him that Harry thought he might have imagined it but then he heard it again and he knew he wasn't dreaming. It sent shivers down his spine and sent his heart racing with rage. Harry had heard it that night at the Ministry of Magic when Sirius was killed. It was the laugh of Bellatrix Lestrange.

Harry jerked his broom around without slowing down. Heart racing, Harry laid his wand flat in his palm.

"Point me Bellatrix Lestrange." He muttered.

The wand spun on his hand and froze when it pinpointed its target. Harry saw the witch battling Lupin a few yards away. Without a second's hesitation the Gryffindor tightened his grip on his wand and sped towards Bellatrix with all the speed he could urge out of his broom.

A spell caught the werewolf square in the chest and unseated him from his broom just as Harry skidded to a stop about ten feet away.

"No!" Harry cried out.

He flattened himself against his broom and sped towards his former professor. Bellatrix's shrill laugh followed him as he sped through the air.

Lupin had fallen over twenty feet before an auror caught him. The impact sent the pair plummeting another ten feet. Harry breathed a heavy sigh of relief. A bright red jet of light shot close to his shoulder, brining him back to the battle.

Harry spun his broom around and saw three Death Eaters soaring after him at once. Thinking fast Harry angled his broom down and sped towards the ground. The Death Eaters followed.

"Expelliarmus!' One of them shouted.

"Protego!" Harry cried.

"Impedimenta!"

Harry did a barrel roll and shot a disarming spell over his shoulder as soon as he was upright again. It missed but broke through the arrow formation the Death Eaters had been flying in.

The ground was rushing up to meet him at an amazing speed. Harry knew he'd only have one shot if this was to work and one wrong move would result in multiple bone breakage. Harry looked back to see how far the Death Eaters were behind him and saw that another five had been added to the original three. Now eight Death Eaters were hot on his tail. With the aurors and Order members so out numbered it wasn't a surprise that so many Death Eaters had been able to break away.

Finally, about five feet from the ground Harry jerked his broom out of its dive and continued flying parallel with the ground. The series of sickening crunches told him that a few Death Eaters hadn't been able to pull out of their dives fast enough. Harry looked back and saw only five of them pursued him now. Spells zoomed past him. A few came uncomfortably close but none managed to hit him.

Preparing for his next move, Harry took a deep breath, eased his broom down another three feet and rolled so that he was hanging upside down. After a three count he released his broom and fell to the ground. As he skidded along on his back the Death Eaters soared over him.

"Stupefy! Stupefy! Stupefy" Harry cried.

His wand tip exploded with red light and blasted three Death Eaters off their brooms. The other two had managed to swerve around the line of fire. Harry jumped up quickly, ignoring the shooting pains in his back from skidding about ten feet across the grass.

The last two Death Eaters circled around the Gryffindor from the sky like hawks circling their prey. Harry's heart was racing so fast he was sure it would pop right out of his chest.

"Impedimenta!" He shouted.

The Death Eater swatted the curse away with ease.

"Stupefy!"

Harry rolled out of the way and came up firing.

"Sectumsempra!" he shouted.

"Protego!"

The Death Eaters rose a little higher in the air and Harry took it as an opportunity to run. His short flight had taken Harry above a small country town where each house was separated by acres of land with the nearest one being about fifty yards away. Harry ran towards it as fast as he could. Suddenly he felt two curses collide with his back, sending him flying head over heels. He cried out in pain as the curses coursed through his body. His cries were silenced as he crashed into the side of the large SUV parked just outside the house and all the breath was knocked from his lungs. Harry felt something warm dripping down the side of his head but he couldn't find the strength to lift his arm to wipe it away. He barely registered the two dark figures landing a few feet away as darkness closed in around him.

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