Chapter 29
In just moment they were off, flying above the woods they had hidden in. They had left Shacklebolt behind, hoping that some Order members would be able to find him later. He was too big to try to drag onto the griffins and he would only get in the way.
"The castle's that way," shouted Genny over the roar of the wind, pointing towards the large, gray, stone building that was sitting just under the nearly full moon.
"We need to get as close as possible without being seen or heard. How are we gonna do that?" asked Ryan.
"I got it!" shouted Ron, looking very proud of himself. "Harry found a spell in his old potion book that we used a lot last year. It was awesome. I bet that would help. Mufliato!"
They flew for a moment with no words.
"Ummm, Ron. What did it do?" asked Genny, skeptically.
"Nobody can hear us. They only hear a buzzing noise," Ron grinned proudly.
Emily shook her head and said softly, "Let's keep an eye out, anyway. No offense, Ron."
Ron shrugged, "It's fine. Hey look, is that Ron and Hermione? I thought they went to get help!"
"They probably couldn't apparate out because Malfoy Manor has a spell like Hogwarts. I thought they would have tried to leave the grounds though," suggested Jon.
"There are big gates around the whole Manor. There's no way out unless you can fly, have a key, or Lucius Malfoy gives you floo powder and lets you use his personal fire. You have to use a certain type of floo powder though," Genny explained, keeping her eyes on the house.
"So if we get separated, then there'll be almost no way out?" asked Ryan.
Nobody spoke. Nobody wanted to anymore.
"Wait! There's something behind us!" shouted Genny suddenly.
"It's gaining on us! Genny do something!" shouted Jon.
Genny bit her lip. "What can I do?" She thought for a few more seconds then began squawking frantically at the griffins.
Emily turned to see what was behind them and froze. All the happiness was draining from her. All of the hope she had just minutes ago had dissolved. Dementor.
"Genny!" screeched Emily.
Genny spoke to the griffins even faster. Soon they had broken into a dive, making all of the kids hold on for dear life. But despite how fast or wild they flew, the dementors were right behind them. One of them made a grab for the griffin Emily was on and grabbed her short, dark brown hair.
She yelled from surprise and pain as her body, grabbing the griffin she was riding as hard as it possibly could, was pulled away from her hand which was now in the dementor's grasp. Tears flowed into her eyes. She didn't want to make much more noise than she had already made. They were getting closer and closer to Malfoy Manor.
The others turned around and tried to help her. A few cried "Expecto Patronum" but they were too surprised in all the chaos to be able to produce a strong enough patronus.
By the time Emily couldn't help shouting in pain again, the dementors had begun to go after the other kids too.
The one holding Emily managed to pull her head back enough so that she was facing the sky. Emily grimaced, knowing what was coming.
As the dementor lowered its hood, Emily tried harder than ever to pull away, but it was hopeless. It lowered in for the kiss.
"Emily!" shouted Jon. "Expecto Patronum!" A burst of light so strong that it almost made Emily fall off her griffin burst from Jon's wand. The dementor attacking Emily was thrown back and fell behind.
"Wow, Jon! How did you do that? That must've been really powerful," Emily commented in shock.
Jon was sweating with the effort of keeping his spell up, driving away the other dementors. "Yeah, well I did learn a thing or two at Durmstrang. Not much, but I learned that."
Emily laughed and tried to summon up her own patronus, but she couldn't figure out what to do besides watching the spell so she just watched Jon's antelope patronus fight off the dementors. Now they were flying very close to the ground…and right into Malfoy Manor.
"Genny, the griffins are going to crash!" Emily shouted.
Genny shook her head with a weak smile. "They'll stop. Don't worry."
Much to everyone's relief, the griffins stopped feet away from the back side of the Manor. Jon drove away the last dementor that had been attacking Ryan. He grinned at Emily, rocked back and forth as he lost his balance, and fell face first off the griffin.
"Jon!" yelped Emily, climbing off her griffin and going to help her friend. "It was too much for him," she cried. "Is he going to be okay?"
Ryan felt his pulse. "He's a little breathless but in a few minutes he should be fine." When Seamus shot him a questioning glance, he shrugged and answered, "My mum's a muggle doctor."
Indeed, in a few minutes they were ready to go on, but the griffins were exhausted.
"Only one place to go now," shrugged Jon when he had gotten his strength back. "Inside to rescue Gabrielle and Luciana. No use going for help now."
A deep, pained howl came from inside the manor.
"Then again, wouldn't it be safer out here?" suggested Ryan.
"What was that?" asked Emily, confused.
"Lupin," groaned Ron.
"What?" asked Emily.
"Not you. Your dad!"
"What the hell are you all talking about? That was an animal, not my dad," Emily huffed.
Ron and Genny looked at each other and simultaneously declared, "Denial."
"Emily, I know you don't really get it, or maybe you just don't want to believe us, but just listen. You're dad is a dangerous magical animal!" explained Genny with complete exasperation, knowing Emily still wouldn't get it through her head.
Emily crossed her arms. "Yeah right. If he was a werewolf, then what would that make me? A werewolf-human crossbreed? That's just disturbingly wrong."
"Well, I'm sure you have some werewolf in you. You're loyal and fun like a dog…or wolf. Hermione would probably know. We can ask her," Ron nodded encouragingly, clueless as always.
"We don't have any idea where she is now, Ron. She and Harry could be anywhere!" sighed Ryan.
Ron shrugged. "They're coming towards us now."
Sure enough, Harry and Hermione, looking weary and desperate, were trekking across the grounds of Malfoy Manor. They had come out of the door, turned to the side and seen the group and the griffins.
"It's done," Hermione said simply with a grimace. She sounded like she had grown years older in just the small amount of time since they had snuck away from the possessed Seamus.
"What's done?" asked Genny.
"The prophecy," Harry said simply. He had a look in his eye as if he couldn't focus on anything and the world around him was just a dream that he was only half involved in.
"Huh?" asked Seamus.
"You mean…" Ron gawked at Harry. "You did it! You actually did it!"
Harry nodded. Ron jumped up giddily and hugged Harry. "You survived, mate! I can't believe it! You did it!"
"What did you do?" Emily finally asked, frustrated.
In reply, Harry threw something down at her feet. Upon inspection Emily found it to be an odd looking wand. It looked burned at the tip, and was snapped in the middle. The dark wood looked strangely dull and useless.
Emily took a deep breath and looked to see how Harry was taking it. He had completed everything his life had been about. There was no more need for revenge; there were no more times he'd have to risk his life and others to save the wizarding world. Harry looked tired beyond belief. Nothing anybody said would ever let him get over what he had done. Harry was not a killer at heart and never would be. There was too much love in him.
"How did the Death-Eaters take it?" Emily asked, tonelessly.
"They're as mad as hell. They let your father loose on us. We had to make a run for it."
Emily's throat stuck. "What?" she felt like she was going to choke. They couldn't all be serious, could they? Was Remus Lupin, the father that she had finally discovered, really a monstrous beast? She began to sweat.
"It's a full moon," Hermione sobbed, "The clouds were blocking it earlier so it didn't look completely full, but it is. He's a werewolf right now and he never drank the potion. There was too much going on. Right before he had transformed, he apologized to us. Luckily he was in a separate cage from the rest of the Order and Luciana and Gabrielle. I think they knew it was a full moon and he was going to transform. But we had thrown them the others before…so now they're somewhere in the Manor with an angry werewolf after them and nowhere to hide and it's all our fault!" Hermione threw herself at Ron and sobbed onto his shoulder while he patted her back sympathetically.
Emily stared into the dark sky, unable to believe anything she heard.
"So he could be anywhere on the Malfoy's property. That's not good," shivered Ryan.
There was a shout from the Malfoy doorway. Emily didn't hear it. She was still in her daze. The world was floating around her like a thick mist in a dream. She wasn't aware of anything around her almost, but the presence of her own mind. She mildly noticed the others diving to the side, and the feel of something sinking into her arm. When she fell down, she barely screamed. She barely noticed her body changing into that of a monster.
