A.N—I actually liked this chapter. I always felt as though Molly Weasley was very stubborn and very arrogant to deny her son's a chance at their dreams, so she's going to be put into her place. He He He.
Disclaimer—I don't own Harry Potter. I do own the dream I had the other night of me and my friend Sarina and both of us dressed up like spies with hair-dryers for guns and lipstick instead of bullets...yeah that was weird.
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Chapter Thirty Four
Inventing.
Fred, George and Lexi practically lived in their invention room, producing and coming up with new prank products. It left them exhausted, covered in ash and it also left them to be yelled at Mrs Weasley. They all knew it was coming, they all knew it had to happen, but that didn't make them any happier about it.
"...NEED TO THINK ABOUT YOUR FUTURES!" she was yelling. Sirius, Sophia and Remus were pale and staring at the woman with plain fear in their eyes. They didn't dare interrupt, so they stood against the wall furthest from Mrs Weasley, looking scared.
Mrs Weasley turned to the boys, who looked at her with bored and frustrated expressions. She had been yelling at them for nearly two hours. "YOU TWO SHOULD EB ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO DRAG LEXI INTO YOUR THOUGHTLESS MESS!" she screamed.
"MRS WEASLEY!" Lexi roared. The older woman blinked but was silent. "All due respect, but this is my decision." she went on, quietly, but firmly. "I have no intention of entering the ministry, or any other profession of the sort. I want to work with the twins in our shop. If that doesn't suit your ideals or goals, then you're going to have to live with it. Because I'll tell you now, nothing you say or do will change our minds. It's our life, we get to choose how to live it."
Lexi looked around, feeling furious and elated before staring at Molly Weasley's stunned face.
"Do you know how worthless and dumb you make us feel when you tear our dreams and goals apart? Do you know how desperately the twins have worked to make you and your husband proud? And all you've done is tell us all that it's stupid or illogical. You shouldn't feel angry or even disappointed in your son's. All you should feel is regret and guilt that you didn't support them earlier. Because I promise you know, they will make you proud. They already have in so many ways, but you are too set in your stubborn ways to see that."
Lexi then wiped away furious tears and stormed up the stairs and slammed her door shut with a slam. Sophia grabbed both Sirius and Remus, shaking her head when they both moved to follow the girl.
"Give her some space. She needs to cool off." she looked imploringly at the twins, who went upstairs to join Lexi. Sophia then turned to Molly.
"Lexi is right. You need to let them try new things." Sophia said gently. Mrs Weasley dabbed at her eyes. "She shouldn't have spoken to you like that. She should come down and apologise."
"I'm glad she did." Molly replied wetly. "She was the first person to stand up to me in nearly fourteen years. Lily must have rubbed off on her. Lexi really did...knock some sense into me. If anyone should apologise, it should be me."
Sirius whistled. "Wo-ow. Molly Weasley admitting defeat. Please tell me we got that on camera."
"Oh, shut up Sirius." the three chorused and Sirius, ever the mature adult, stuck his tongue out.
"You know there's a saying." Sophia said. "People are like leaves. They get blown about, battered and stepped on, but no matter where the wind blows them, they always find a way back home. The twins are going to be fine Molly. You just need to trust them."
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Lexi sniffed and wiped her eyes.
"I'm such an idiot." she said. "I shouldn't have said that stuff to your mum. She probably hates me."
"Are you kidding me?" George said. "You were amazing! Mum had that stuff coming to her months ago."
"I'm a bit peeved that you didn't let me have a go at her actually." Fred chuckled. Lexi let out a laugh that sounded a bit like a sob. Both boys sat down on either side of her, hugging her.
"Have things been sorted between your dad and Percy yet?" she asked, changing the subject. Both twins stiffened.
"No." Fred replied. The whole of Grimmauld place had heard the argument between Mr Weasley and his son. It had been...horrible, what Percy had said to his father. Ginny had been reduced to tears, and she was the strongest person that Lexi knew. "Good riddance in my opinion."
"No wiser words were ever spoken." George agreed. Lexi chuckled.
"You're probably right." she said. She wiped her eyes and looked around at the room she was sharing with Ginny and Hermione. Her owl, Lizzie was sleeping, her brown head under her wing.
"Have you written to Harry?" Fred asked. He knew that having to ignore Harry was a horrid concept to Lexi and that she was being forced to do so was making her sick.
"Yes. He's going to be so mad when he sees us all here, together. I can't believe Dumbledore won't let mum go and get him."
"Me either." said Ginny, who just entered the room. "I heard what you said downstairs to mum. And I have to say that that was pretty ballsy of you."
"Heh. Thanks Gin." Lexi grinned. "Glad you enjoyed the show. Where're Ron and Hermione?"
"Snogging in a closet?" Fred guessed.
"No." Ginny laughed. "They're getting pecked to death by Hedwig. Harry just sent her here and she's going ballistic."
They all started laughing. "He must want answers if he's attacking his best friends." Lexi said.
"But can you blame him?" Ginny asked. They fell silent, lost in their own thoughts.
"MUNDUNGUS! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU THAT WE ARE NOT HOUSING ANY OF YOUR STOLEN GOODS!"
"I guess 'Dung is home." Fred grinned.
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Sophia bounded up the stairs, a smile stretching across her face. Dumbledore had just told her that she could go and collect Harry. She had been filled with anger and guilt at the prospect of Harry being stuck at Privet Drive for the past month and a half. He was Lily's son and if he had her temper, then she was going to get yelled...badly.
"Soph! Hurry up!" Remus called.
"Coming!" she said. She had grabbed her broomstick and was at the front door quicker than the eye could see. She grinned around at the group. "Ready."
They all filed out through the door, mounting their broomsticks and then taking off. They arrived at privet drive and before anyone could stop her, Sophi had taken a pin form he rlong braid and had begun to tinker with the lock on the front door. It opened with a small click and Sophia smirked at Remus, who rolled his eyes. They'd had an on-going bet that she couldn't pick open a lock and he now owed her four galleons.
Harry must have heard the disturbance because once they were all filed in, they looked up to see a dark figure pointing his wand at them.
"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out," Moody said.
"Professor Moody?" Harry said uncertainly.
"I don't know so much about 'Professor'," Moody growled, "never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."
"It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away." Remus called up gently.
"P-Professor Lupin?" he said disbelievingly. "Is that you?"
"Why are we all standing in the dark?" said Dora. "Lumos."
A wand-tip flared, illuminating the hall with magical light. Harry blinked. The people below were crowded around the foot of the stairs, gazing up at him intently, some craning their heads for a better look.
Remus Lupin stood nearest to Harry, Sophia at his side and beaming up at Harry. She hugged the boy quickly, kissing his cheek.
"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would," Dora said excitedly. She had yet to meet Harry. "Wotcher, Harry!
"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," said a bald black wizard standing furthest back - he had a deep, slow voice and wore a single gold hoop in his ear - "he looks exactly like James."
"Except the eyes," said a wheezy-voiced, silver-haired wizard at the back. "Lily's eyes."
"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" Moody growled. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"
"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Remus asked.
"A stag," said Harry nervously.
"That's him, Mad-Eye," said Sophia with a smile. Harry descended the stairs, stowing his wand in the back pocket of his jeans as he came.
"Don't put your wand there, boy!" roared Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"
"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" Dora asked Mad-Eye interestedly.
"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!" growled Mad-Eye.
"Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more." He stumped off towards the kitchen. "And I saw that," he added irritably, as Dora rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.
Remus held out his hand and shook Harry's.
"How are you?" he asked, looking closely at Harry.
"F-fine…I'm - you're really lucky the Dursleys are out…" he mumbled.
"Lucky, ha!" Dora snorted. "It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now… or they think they are."
"We are leaving, aren't we?" Harry asked. "Soon?"
"Almost at once," said Lupin, "we're just waiting for the all-clear."
"Where are we going? The Burrow?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Not The Burrow, no," Sophia replied, motioning Harry towards the kitchen; the little knot of wizards followed, all still eyeing Harry curiously. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while…"
Mad-Eye Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in the Dursleys' many labor-saving appliances.
"This is Alastor Moody, Harry," Sophia continued, pointing towards Moody.
"Yeah, I know," said Harry uncomfortably. It felt odd to be introduced to somebody he'd thought he'd known for a year.
"And this is Nymphadora -" Remus started.
"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus," said the young witch with a shudder, "it's Tonks."
"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," finished Lupin.
"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," muttered Tonks.
"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt." He indicated the tall black wizard, who bowed.
"Elphias Doge." The wheezy-voiced wizard nodded. "Dedalus Diggle -"
"We've met before," squeaked the excitable Diggle, dropping his violet-colored top hat. "Emmeline Vance." A stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head. "Sturgis Podmore." A square-jawed wizard with thick straw-colored hair winked.
"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," Remus said, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.
"Yeah, well, the more the better," said Moody darkly. "We're your guard, Potter."
"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," Sophia said, glancing out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."
"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?" said Tonks, who was looking around the kitchen with great interest. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"
"Er - yeah," said Harry. "Look -" he turned back to Lupin, "what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol—?"
Five of the witches and wizards made shushing noises, Sophia hissed like a cat; Dedalus Diggle dropped his hat again and Moody growled, "Shut up!"
"What?" said Harry.
"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," said Moody, turning his normal eye on Harry. His magical eye remained focused on the ceiling. "Damn it," he added angrily, putting a hand up to the magical eye, "it keeps getting stuck - ever since that scum wore it."
And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he popped out his eye.
"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" Sophia said conversationally.
"Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry," requested Moody.
Harry crossed to the dishwasher, took out a clean glass and filled it with water at the sink, still watched eagerly by the band of wizards. Their relentless staring was starting to annoy him.
"Cheers," said Moody, when Harry handed him the glass. He dropped the magical eyeball into the water and prodded it up and down; the eye whizzed around, staring at them all in turn. "I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey."
"How're we getting - wherever we're going?" Harry asked.
"Brooms," said Lupin. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey."
"Remus says that you're a good flyer, Harry." Tonks said.
"He's excellent," Sophia and Remus said, Remus who was checking his watch. "Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."
"I'll come and help you," said Tonks brightly.
She followed Harry back into the hall and up the stairs, looking around with much curiosity and interest.
"She's a bit keen, isn't she?" Sophia chuckled. Remus pulled out a piece of parchment and started to write a letter to the Dursleys.
"Excellent," said Lupin, looking up as Tonks and Harry entered. "We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Harry, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry –"
"They won't," said Harry.
"- that you're safe -"
"That'll just depress them."
"- and you'll see them next summer."
"Do I have to?"
Sophia smiled sadly.
"Come here, boy," said Moody gruffly, beckoning Harry towards him with his wand. "I need to Disillusion you."
"You need to what?" said Harry nervously.
"Disillusionment Charm," said Moody, raising his wand. "Lupin says you've got an Invisibility Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go—" Moody rapped Harry hard on the head with his wand and he soon blended into the background, sort of like a human chameleon.
"Come on," said Moody, unlocking the back door with his wand. They all stepped outside on to Uncle Vernon's beautifully kept lawn.
"Clear night," grunted Moody, his magical eye scanning the heavens. "Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right, you," he barked at Harry," we're going to be flying in close formation. Tonks'll be right in front of you, keep close on her tail. Lupin'll be covering you from below I'm going to be behind you. The rest'll be circling us. We don't break ranks for anything, got me? If one of us is killed -"
"Is that likely?" Harry asked apprehensively, but Moody ignored him.
"- the others keep flying, don't stop, don't break ranks. If they take out all of us and you survive, Harry, the rear guard are standing by to take over; keep flying east and they'll join you."
"Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, he'll think we're not taking this seriously" said Tonks, as she strapped Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage into a harness hanging from her broom.
"I'm just telling the boy the plan," growled Moody. "Our jobs to deliver him safely to Headquarters and if we die in the attempt –"
"No one's going to die," said Kingsley Shacklebolt in his deep, calming voice.
"Mount your brooms, that's the first signal!" Sophia said sharply pointing into the sky.
Far, far above them, a shower of bright red sparks had flared among the stars, Harry recognised them at once as wand sparks.
"Second signal, let's go!" Sophia said loudly as more sparks, green this time, exploded high above them.
They all kicked off from the ground, soaring high up into the sky.
"Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!" shouted Moody from behind Harry. Tonks swerved and Harry followed her, watching his trunk swinging wildly beneath her broom. "We need more height… give it another quarter of a mile!"
"Bearing south!" shouted Mad-Eye. "'Town ahead!"
They soared right to avoid passing directly over the glittering spider's web of lights below.
"Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!" called Moody.
"We're not going through clouds!" Tonks shouted angrily, "we'll get soaked, Mad-Eye!"
"We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!" Moody shouted.
"ARE YOU MAD, MAD-EYE"' Sophia screamed from the front. "We're all frozen to our brooms! If we keep going off-course we're not going to get there until next week! Besides, we're nearly there now!"
"Time to start the descent!" Remus said loudly. "Follow Tonks, Harry!"
"Where are we?" Harry asked, Sophia said quietly, "In a minute."
Moody was rummaging in his cloak, his gnarled hands clumsy with cold.
"Got it," he muttered, raising what looked like a silver cigarette lighter into the air and clicking it.
The nearest streetlamp went out with a pop.
He clicked the unlighter again; the next lamp went out; he kept clicking until every lamp in the square was extinguished and the only remaining light came from curtained windows and the sickle moon overhead.
"Borrowed it from Dumbledore," growled Moody, pocketing the Put-Outer. "That'll take care of any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick."
He took Harry by the arm and led him from the patch of grass, across the road and on to the pavement; Lupin and Sophia followed, carrying Harry's trunk between them, the rest of the guard, all with their wands out, flanking them.
The muffled pounding of a stereo was coming from an upper window in the nearest house. A pungent smell of rotting rubbish came from the pile of bulging bin-bags just inside the broken gate.
"Here," Moody muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment towards Harry's Disillusioned hand and holding his lit wand close to it, so as to illuminate the writing. "Read quickly and memorise."
He read it and then looked up, "What's the Order of the—?"
"SHHH!"
"Not here boy!" Moody growled. They climbed the steps to the house, Tonks pulling the door open, ushering Harry inside. He got halfway down the corridor before Moody shoved him aside and went before him, followed by the others. Tonks winked at Harry before following the others through a door that was emitting loud whispers. Harry caught sight of Sirius sitting at the desk, pointing at something and talking furiously. Sophia led the others through the door, but held up a hand when Harry made to follow.
"Sorry, Harry. Order members only." she smiled kindly. Harry noticed for the first time a phoenix tattoo on the inside of her left wrist, winding around it like a bracelet. "Go on up the stairs, to the third landing to the right. Hermione and Ron should be up there. Supper will be ready within the next hour or so." she kissed his cheek before going through the door, closing it behind her.