Hello again, thanks for the reviews :)
I'm all settled in at university now, and I love it. Just finished my first semester and can't believe how quick it's gone! Hope everyone is enjoying their holidays :D As usual, sorry for not updating. I am a failure. For some reason I just didn't want to write this chapter, and being so busy didn't help...

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The thestrals landed on the tarmac road of Privet Drive with a clatter of their hooves. They were soon followed by a group of brooms and one motorbike, complete with a black sidecar. Ron dismounted his broom and walked over to one of the thestrals to help Hermione down. She had never liked flying on a broom, so when the skeletal, black-winged horses had been suggested she was very happy.

The door of number four was wrenched open, and Harry Potter hurtled into their midst. There was a general cry of greeting as Hermione flung her arms around him, Ron clapped him on the back and Hagrid said, "All righ', Harry? Ready fer the off?"

"Definitely," said Harry, beaming around at them all. "But I wasn't expecting this many of you!"

"Change of plan," growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous, bulging sacks and whose magical eye was spinning from the darkening sky to the house to the garden with dizzying rapidity. "Let's go undercover before we talk you through it."

Harry lead them into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt Petunia's gleaming work-surfaces or leaned up against her spotless appliances. Hermione was perched on one of said counter-tops next to Tonks, who winked at her.

"Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem." said Moody. "He's made it an imprisonable offence to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely."

Harry nodded as the former Defence Against the Dark Arts professor continued.

"Second problem: you're under-age, which means you've still got the Trace on you. If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters. We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper."

"So," said Kingsley Shacklebolt. "We're using means of transport that the Trace can't detect, because we don't have to cast spells to use them: brooms, thestrals and Hagrid's motorbike."

Moody nodded and dropped the sacks he was holding on the floor, starting to undo the ties on them.

"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age or -" Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen "- you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?"

Harry nodded.

"So this time, when you leave, there'll be no coming back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We're choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen. The one thing we've got on our side is that he doesn't know we're moving you tonight. We've leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: they think you're not leaving until the thirtieth. However, this is You-Know-Who we're dealing with, so we can't just rely on him getting the date wrong; he's bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area just in case."

He tipped up the sacks and clothes fell onto the floor. Hermione noticed that all the t-shirts looked the same, as did the jeans. They were to dress alike.

"We will all be flying to different safe houses: The Burrow, my house, Kingsley's place, Tonk's parents – you all know which one to head to."

From inside his cloak Moody now withdrew a flask of what looked like mud. Hermione watched as Harry realised what it was.

"No!" Harry said loudly, his voice ringing through the kitchen. "No way!"

"I told them you'd take it like this," said Hermione, with a hint of complacency.

After a large amount of convincing, mostly on Hermione's part, Harry reluctantly agreed that polyjuice potion was the best option. There were to be seven Potters: Harry (of course), Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus Fletcher. They changed into the matching outfits and presented themselves in front of Moody.

"Harry, your eyesight really is awful," said Hermione, as she put on glasses.

Once dressed, the fake Harrys took rucksacks and owl cages, each containing a stuffed snowy owl.

Moody indicated which Harry would receive which partner. Hermione was with Kingsley.

It was her turn to take the potion, Hermione noted that Harry tasted a lot better than Millicent Bulstrode's cat. But still not good.

As she was helped onto the back of one of the thestrals, Hermione looked around at the numerous Harrys in the street. Her heart pounded with anticipation; she was nervous as to what would happen next.

"Good luck, everyone." shouted Moody. "See you all in about an hour at The Burrow. On the count of three. One … two … THREE."

The thestral cantered down Privet Drive before taking off into the sky, up through the clouds into the night. And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded.

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Two figures appeared in the yard and as Harry ran towards them he realised that they were Hermione, now returning to her normal appearance, and Kingsley, both clutching a bent coat hanger. Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms, but Kingsley showed no pleasure at the sight of any of them. Over Harry's shoulder Hermione saw him raise his wand and point it at Lupin's chest.

"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us?"

"'Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him.'" said Lupin calmly.

Harry angled his head so that he could talk into Hermione's ear as they hugged.

"They realised it was me," he said. "I disarmed Stan Shunpike and they knew it was me."

"It's not your fault, it seems like they knew that we changed the day. We nearly missed our portkey!"

"Now don't be alarmed," Harry said, pulling away from her and studying her face. "But Ron and Tonks missed their portkey..."

Hermione gasped and put her hands to her mouth.

"George is hurt too. One of his ears is missing."

If it were possible, Hermione looked even more worried. Harry took her into The Burrow where they rushed to George's side.

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"So … are you going back to Hogwarts this year?"

"No." said Draco firmly.

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not."

"I bet your parents try and make you go," said Daphne, smiling slightly. "I know that your mother will do anything to get you away from the house."

Draco looked up from his lap at her, a slight puzzled look on his face.

"She insisted that I invite you round."

Draco nodded, understanding. He was quite relieved to be away from Malfoy Manor – many of the Death Eaters had gone to try to surprise Potter as he left his aunt and uncle's house. He knew the Death Eaters would not succeed, he could feel it in his gut. But what if someone was badly hurt? What if she was that someone?

"Asty, go away!" Daphne Greengrass snapped, bringing Draco's mind back into focus. He looked up to see a swish of long, pale blonde hair as the girl left the room.

"Sorry about that, she's so nosy."

"No … it's okay..."

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"Bill! Thank God, thank God -"

Mrs Weasley ran forwards but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at his father, he said "Mad-Eye's dead."

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Draco flooed back into his room to find his mother waiting for him.

"They're back." she said.

"And?" said Draco, hesitantly.

"He got away. They did more damage to us than we did to them apparently, the Dark Lord is furious. But that Auror, Moody, is dead."

Draco nodded and crossed the room to sit on his bed. He still felt concerned.

"Your father's fine... so is she."

Draco's heard thudded hard in his chest as he thought of Hermione. He soon relaxed. She was safe. For now.

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Hermione insisted on doing the washing up the morning after the journey to The Burrow, so that Mrs Weasley could get a break. Ron had the duty of putting away the clean plates.

"Mum's been trying to get it out of me and Harry. What we're off to do. She'll try you next so brace yourself. Dad and Lupin have both asked as well. I just said that Dumbledore told Harry not to tell anyone but us?"

Hermione nodded.

"They dropped it, Mum hasn't though. She's determined.

Ron's prediction came true within hours. Shortly before lunch, Mrs Weasley detached Hermione from the others by asking her to help with the food.

"Ron and Harry seem to think that the three of you are dropping out of Hogwarts," she began in a light, casual tone.

"Oh," said Hermione. "Well, yeah. We are."

Mrs Weasley picked Hermione's brains until Ron came to the rescue. She whispered her thanks and went up to her room to fetch her cardigan. As she walked in, she spotted her beaded bag that she had left upon her camp bed. She picked it up and studied it carefully, an idea hatching in her mind.

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"Hermione, what are you doing with all those books?" said Ron, sitting on Ginny's bed as he watched her sit on the floor, surrounded by belongings. Harry was stood by the window, staring out as he watched Fred, George and Ginny in the garden.

"Just trying to decide which ones to take with us," said Hermione. "When we're looking for the Horcruxes."

"Oh, of course," said Ron, clapping a hand to his forehead. "I forgot we'll be hunting down Voldemort in a mobile library."

"Ha ha." said Hermione, looking down at Spellman's Syllabary. "I wonder … will we need to translate ancient runes? It's possible … I think I better take it, to be safe."

They could hear the sound of voices downstairs, and Harry watched as he saw Mrs Weasley drag her children from the garden.

"More wedding drama." Ron sighed.

As soon as George was back on his feet, Mrs Weasley had resumed wedding mode, frantically preparing the house for Fleur and Bill's big day. It was very hectic at The Burrow; the three of them had very little time to make plans about what their next move would be.

There was a knock at the door, and Mrs Weasley walked in looking flustered.

"I'm so sorry to break up this cosy little gathering," she said, her voice trembling. "I'm sure you all need your rest … but there are wedding presents stacked in my room that need sorting out and I was under the impression that you had agreed to help."

The three followed her out of the room and down the stairs to her room.

"It's like being a house-elf," complained Ron, once they were left alone again for a moment. "Except without the job-satisfaction. The soonder this wedding's over, the happier I'll be."

"Yeah," said Harry, "then we'll have nothing to do except find Horcruxes … it'll be like a holiday, won't it?"

Hermione giggled, before handing Harry a box wrapped in pale silver paper with a purple bow. Her heart thudded as the familiar wrappings made her think of the previous Christmas. She still wore the bracelet every day. She felt as though it burnt against her skin at the thought of it: a constant reminder of Draco.

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Draco dipped his quill in ink and stared at the blank parchment. He could do it, it was just one word at a time. His owl was perched on his windowsill, waiting for him to finish. Voldemort's fury had not calmed down at all, so Draco had been steering clear of other people, only seeing his mother and, occasionally, his father. He just wanted to be away from all the Death Eaters; he just wanted it to go back to him and his parents. He didn't like how his aunt insisted on 'checking that he was still an acomplished occlumens'. The only reason why he remained so skilled at closing his mind was to stop her from finding out what he was really thinking.

Slowly but surely, he finished his message.

Hermione, I'm not going back to Hogwarts in September. I can't face it.
Wherever you're going, take me with you.

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Little bit of a plot turn... poor Draco :(
Thanks for reading! It's been over two years writing this now, I can't believe it's been so long! I suppose if I updated quicker it would've been done by now, but ah well x