Tonks looked dumbfounded at Mad-Eye, who was bowing his head slightly. Professor McGonagall patted Tonks lightly on the shoulders.
"Wh—how did he—?" Tonks couldn't find the words she was meaning to say. Mad-Eye let out a heavy sigh.
"You know he's been trying to find help from the werewolves. Well Voldemort—" the professors winced at the name. Mad-Eye pressed on. "Voldemort got really irritated. So he killed him himself. Slaughtered him." Tonks let out a whimper and threw herself in Harry's arms. "I'm sorry, Nymph." There was a long moment of grievous silence, then Harry remembered what he had longed to ask. Even if it was rude. Even if the news of Lupin's death had just struck him hard.
"Where's Ron and Hermione? Where's Ginny?" He turned to look at Mrs. Weasley. She looked up at him with a frown on her old face.
"They're fine dear. They're with Kingsley, Hagrid, and Professor Dumbledore. So are Fred, George, Padma, and Cho. They're hiding out at another place. We didn't want to all be together. If You-Know-Who finds one of us at least the others can still fight on—" her voice was not at all convincing however.
"Professor Dumbledore's alright?"
"Yes." Replied McGonagall.
"All the other D.A. members are dead though—" said Neville in an apologetic tone. "It was my fault. I rallied them to help—"
"Its not your fault, Neville." Said McGonagall. Tonks was still buried in Harry's arm when the professors and Mad-Eye had gone back into the room they had come out of, to discuss further plans.
Harry patted her as he led her to sit down on a chair. She released Harry and he saw that her eyes were swollen red. Her hair was a mixture of scarlet and black and it had grown to her elbows.
"You okay?" he asked rhetorically. She nodded weakly and leaned back against the chair. Pavarti was in Seamus's arm looking frightened. Luna talking with Neville in the corner. Dean Thomas was stabbing at his half eaten plate of cold food.
"Glad you're alright, mate." Said Dean looking up.
"Yeah. Thanks. Glad you are, too." Said Harry. Harry, though he felt sick because of it, had a mixture of both relief and sadness. He was relieved that they had made it to the Order's hideout. He was relieved that the people he cared about most were all okay, with the exception of Lupin. But mostly, he was relieved because now he had Tonks all to himself. The thought sickened him and he tossed it aside…
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The next few days crept by slowly. Tonks was depressed and was constantly in a room that she shared with Luna and Pavarti. Luna said she was crying all day. Dean, Seamus, Neville, and Harry shared a room. The Order members Harry rarely saw. They were constantly in their room discussing plans that he was left out of.
"She's okay though right?" Harry asked Luna who was playing dreamily with her long dirty blonde hair.
"If crying and refusing to eat's what you call 'okay'." Said Luna not looking up at him. Harry frowned.
"It's okay, Harry." Said Pavarti glaring at Luna who took no notice. "She's going to be alright. She just needs a little time."
"What's up with you and her, anyways?" asked Seamus. "You seemed really concerned."
"She's a friend." Said Harry quickly. Seamus and Dean exchanged glances. Are we just friends? Harry wondered eating a slice of something that smelt extremely disgusting. "How many Death Eaters are left anyways?"
"Not many. We took down quite a lot." Neville answered. The door of Tonks's room opened to reveal a skinnier girl then Harry had remembered. She stepped out wearily and sat down next to him and held his hand, which was rested on the table. The others didn't speak a word; they merely stared at the two.
"Hey," Harry said smiling slightly.
"Hey," she answered picking up his fork and taking a bite of food.
"How are you?" Harry asked.
"I'm fine," she answered in an obviously fake enthusiastic tone. Harry nodded and looked up to find Luna and Pavarti smiling slightly, Neville looking confused, Dean practically beaming, and Seamus looking almost disapprovingly. Then three loud knocks on the door broke silence. Harry jumped up and walked towards the door and opened it, but did not take off the chain. Standing outside was George Weasley and Cho Chang damped.
"It's George." Said the smiling red haired boy. Cho Change gave Harry a weak smile as he closed the door to unlock the chain and the opened it again. Mad-Eye had gotten out of his room to check on them.
"What are you two doing here?" he demanded.
"We got a message—from you. Said to meet you—actually told Kingsley to—but then he told me to go with Cho cause he said he has to protect everyone else and what not. Wait—you didn't message us?" By this time all of the professors were already out of the room and looking panicked.
"When did this message arrive?" asked McGonagall.
"About an hour ago. Said it was urgent. We came here as fast as we could—" Mad-Eye had rushed back into his room to gather his wand and cane.
"We all have to go—" said Mad-Eye looking at the kids. Then they went out of the enchantments' radius and disapperated…
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They arrived at a place that looked very similar to their hideout. The wooden cabin was slightly larger but older looking. The door was open, and there were no light inside. Mrs. Weasley ran into the cabin before anyone could move. Mad-Eye went after her, followed by the rest.
The cabin was dark and smelt even worse then where Harry had been. It seemed desserted. "Lumos MAXIMA!" yelled Mrs. Weasley. The room light up brightly. Harry could make out a figure. Upon getting closer Harry saw that it was Padma, Pavarti's twin sister. She was bleeding and wheezing, lying hopelessly on the hard floor.
"Padma!" yelled Pavarti running up to her twin sister. She helped her up and sat her on the sofa. Mrs. Weasley was trying to heal her, but nothing happened. She was still bleeding.
"What happened?" growled Mad-Eye, scanning the room with his magical eye.
"Snape came. With Lucias and Bellatrix. They attacked up. Kingsley held back Snape but Lucias and Bellatrix went after us. Hermione and I—we fought Bellatrix while Ron and Fred fought Lucias. Snape and Kingsley tied but Bellatrix held me hostage. By then I was already hurt badly. Kingsley had no choice—he let them capture him along with everyone else. Bellatrix was going to kill me anyways since I was too weak to go on—but Snape said she needn't. That I'd die anyways. They just left—" Padma was coughing dryly. Everyone's face was dead white.
"We have to find a way to stop the bleeding," said Sprout. McGonagall conjured pieces of cloth and cotton and water in a goblet. Then she dressed Padma's wounds while everyone else sat down and looked blankly at each other.
"Where's Hagrid?" asked Mad-Eye after Padma's wound was dressed.
"He's disappeared long time ago." Said George. "Dunno what happened. He left to find us some food—been five days. He never returned." They all looked at each other, worried.
"You don't think—" began Sprout.
"We can't worry about that now." Said Flitwick. "We have to worry about the kids. Hagrid can take care of himself—"
"If he's not dead." Said Luna out of nowhere. Pavarti gave her a look of deepest loathing.
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Harry sat looking dumbly at his hand, Cho Chang next to him. All of the Order members, including Tonks, had gone into this cabin's conference room. Pavarti was talking to her sister and Luna was seated next to Neville, who was playing with his shoulder length black hair, reading. Dean was walking back and forth with his hands behind his back like an old man. Seamus was stamping his feet on the ground.
"There's nothing we could do, you know?" said Luna, her dreamy voice floating gracefully throughout the quiet room. Nobody said anything. Pavarti didn't even look at her. They all knew it was true.
The door of the conference room opened and Mad-Eye stepped out with the rest of the members.
"It is time we start gathering our forces to fight back." Said McGonagall.
"Enough hiding." Flitwick said standing straight up. Mad-Eye nodded looking at the eight students in front of him.
"It's time."