CHAPTER 7
A/N Hey guys, sorry about the long wait, but hey, life happens. I'll try my hardest to get a steady pace on updates, but no promises. Hope you like the chapter!
It was nearing noon and Harry was beginning to get impatient. He had been sitting in a boarded-up doorway on the other side of the street from WWW for almost three hours. There had been absolutely no sign of Death Eater activity. He wondered if it was even happening today. Harry actually felt himself falling asleep due to the lack of sleep the night before when, he heard a noise out of place. *scratch scratch* 'What was that? I know that sound from somewhere' he thought as he looked around. 'There! A small gray rat was creeping toward the shop!'
"Stupefy!" Harry whispered
He missed by about a foot. Harry tried again and again with the same results. 'Man, I really have to work on my accuracy' Harry mentally noted.
This time he took careful aim and hit the rat right on the head. Stealthily moving over to the now unconscious rat, he disillusioned it and placed it in an out-of-the-way place near some stairs. A few minutes later he heard the same sound again! There was the rat moving much faster towards the shop! Harry wasted no time in capturing it again and placing it in the same out-of-the-way place. This happened many, many more times and Harry began to wonder at the strength of his stunner, and the intelligence of the rat that would keep trying no matter how many times it was stunned.
Harry was taking aim at the rat yet again and his stunner had just left his wand when twelve Death Eaters apparated into the street, the closest only four feet away. The stunner hit him instantly and acting quickly, Harry disillusioned and bound him, and placed him near the stairs. The remaining Death Eaters looked around in confusion but shrugged and figured that someone must have gotten the coordinates wrong, they proceeded to the door with Harry following behind picking off any that strayed far enough away. He had stunned a total of five when the others stopped again and looked around suspiciously noticing someone was missing. Shrugging yet again, they figured they must have counted wrong they proceeded toward the shop. They had just sealed the door shut when Harry fired again. This time, however, they were too close together for them not to notice one of their number fall.
"Attack!" one of them yelled and they began firing incendio and other destructive curses at the shop. Harry fired again, but this time someone noticed the spell appearing out of thin air.
"Invisibility Cloak!" he yelled. "Accio Invisibility Cloak!"
'Damn' Harry thought as he managed to grab the cloak before it was out of reach, but not in time to stay unnoticed.
"Aha! Scared you'll have to fight like a man now, are we?" said the Death Eater firing a yellow curse at Harry.
"I wouldn't call six to one fighting like a man, but hey I guess you all are compensating for something." Harry taunted back as he dodged and returned fire. But all too soon, Harry was worn down. No matter how much he dodged, shielded and attacked, he couldn't take another one out and was starting to slow. The shop was heavily damaged, but surprisingly not on fire. Then again, maybe it wasn't so surprising seeing as a large majority of the products in the store were fireworks and fireproof charms were a must for any shop with volatile materials. Harry, distracted with this thought, dodged a crucio only to take a bludgeoning hex to the shoulder.
"AAHG!" Harry screamed in pain, his right arm hanging limply, possibly broken, and definitely out of its socket. Harry threw himself to the ground to avoid another crucio, but was barely able to grip the wand, let alone retaliate with his arm so injured. He looked up to see six very unfriendly wands pointing at him when the doors to the shop suddenly burst open. Fred, George, and a couple of the braver customers poured out and engaged the Death Eaters. George's eyes widened as he saw just who was on the ground. Harry took advantage of the momentary confusion to slip his cloak back on and tried to creep to the outside of the battle. Although, the term 'battle' was very short-lived. The Death Eaters, seeing how the odds were suddenly not in their favor, apparated away.
"That's right! Run away!" Fred said.
"That'll teach them what happens when they mess with the Weaselys" George added.
Harry gingerly got to his feet and tried to silently leave but not before George called loudly
"And if our silent partner is out there, I believe he would be very interested in hearing what we have to say."
Harry paused wondering if this could be a trap.
"Especially if he wishes for medical attention and people who don't treat him like a pawn"
Cautiously Harry moved towards Fred and George who were in the process of closing the shop for repairs. He touched George on the shoulder.
"Alright people, everyone out, we need to fix this damage, and possibly upgrade the defenses of the shop. Take our Owl order form and give it to everybody you know!"
Fred and George were soon the only ones left and made a big show of holding the door for each other giving plenty of time for someone invisible to enter without notice.
"Harry?" Fred asked
Harry gingerly took of the cloak and gave them a sheepish smile.
"Guess I bit off more than I could chew that time guys"
"I'd say so, taking on six Death Eaters like that."
"Twelve."
"What?!"
"There were twelve, I stunned six and disillusioned five. The others are near the stairs across the street."
"Blimey Harry! No wonder they call you the boy who lived."
"You go into the backroom with George; I'll go grab those Death Eaters." Fred said as he exited the shop.
Harry followed George into the backroom and was nearly assaulted by a mass of brown hair.
"Harry! What are you doing here? Are you alright?" Hermione asked.
"I'm fine" he replied, "Only a hurt arm"
"FINE?! Harry James Potter you are most certainly not fine! Your shoulder looks like it was trampled by a giant. Here let me get this for you. We have to get it back in the socket before healing the bones. This is going to hurt."
"Alright, I'm ready."
"On three. One, two…What's that over there?" Hermione asked looking behind Harry.
"Where?"
Hermione jerked hard on his arm and guided it back in place.
"OW! What happened to three?"
"You were tensing up and I didn't want you fighting me. Now stop being a baby and let me repair your bones."
"Women" Harry muttered under his breath.
"What was that?"
"Nothing."
"Better be nothing unless you fancy sleeping with a broken arm."
"No, I mean Thank you very much Hermione"
"Hmmph" Hermione said as she muttered a healing charm.
"Alright, now I need you to swear that neither of you will tell Dumbledore where I am."
"We have something much better than that." Hermione said as she pulled out the contract she had written up. "Read this."
Harry read the parchment, his eyebrows rising more and more until he got to the end. "I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to say anything; all you have to do is sign it at the top and give it a drop of your blood."
Harry grabbed a quill off the table, and signed his name with a flourish, pricked his finger and let a drop fall to the contract. It glowed a very bright blue before fading back to normal.
"Now, let me tell you about all that I've been up to."
"Oi Harry! Wait for me" Fred yelled as he came in the door floating a number of figures. "I have to ask mate, what's with all the stunned rats? There must be at least twenty of them."
* * *
Harry eventually returned from WWW late that night and made his way down to Slytherin's chambers. He had a lot to think about. He had learned quite a few things today. He was next to useless without a functional right hand. That would most certainly have to be remedied. Another big thing was that he was severely out of shape- he only lasted three minutes in actual combat before he was gasping for breath, especially against the six. That was another thing he learned that really got to him. Fighting all alone was nigh impossible, but having friendly wands with him could make all the difference. It had only been by a small bit of skill and a large amount of luck that he had survived previous encounters with Voldemort. He would not make the same mistakes again.
