Author's Note: Alright! Are you guys ready to meet Harry? This one's been looooooong overdue, but apart from having no time to write I also experienced trouble constructing this chapter. I ended up moving things quite a bit, but it worked out in the end, I think. And it's a pretty long one too. Yay!

Dedication: All loyal readers and reviewers of this story mean the world to me. You guys rock!

Disclaimer: I rewrote a large part of an OOTP-chapter for this update. Hope I did it justice, JK.

Thirty-Six: Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)*

"A little higher."

Mary was looking at the old dusty study room where she had arrived from Brazil last night from a whole different angle. She was hoovering several feet up in the air, trying to get a good feel of this broom, which seemed to have an entire mind of its own and took a liking in going left where she wanted to go right. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she tried to will the object to ascend at least one more foot, but nothing happened, aside from the broom dropping a notch, forcing her to steady her grip even more.

"Higher! Higher I said, mum. Not lower!"

Mary glanced down at her son standing below, a worried frown on his young face. "I'm trying," she replied hastily, "but this bloody thing just won't- ack!"

The broom made a sudden move to the left and almost managed to shake off Mary in the process.

"No, not like this!" Oliver called. "Move your hands further apart to strengthen your grip. Yeah, like that," he continued when Mary adjusted her grip and steadied the restless broom in one movement. "You have to show it who's the boss."

Mary raised an eyebrow. "It's not a horse, Oliver. That is just ridiculous. It's a flying object, nothing-"

She shrieked when the broom started to shake up and down and had to hold on for dear life. "Looks like the broom disagrees," came Oliver's dry voice from below and Mary shot him a glare. "How... Can I... make it... stop?"

"Well, relaxing a little might help."

The key was just to relax?

It was the single thing she was incapable of doing at the moment. Mary got more frustrated with herself by the minute. How was it she was unable to fly normally? For a moment, she was right back on her very first flying lesson at Hogwarts. She had been one of last students who was failing to summon the broom up in her hand. She could still vividly remember the looks of her friends, Lily and Brice (full of empathy) and James and Sirius (smirking arrogantly). It was an embarrassing experience, but Mary always thought she would get the hang of it in the years to come. Since she was in no hurry to become part of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, she never really forced herself to taking more flying lessons, even though James had offered on more than one occasion.

"That's it!" Oliver said excitedly, pulling her mind back to the present. "Now just try and keep it steady."

For some miraculous reason, Mary now appeared to be in control of her broomstick. Maybe it had taken pity on her? She could not help but snort, but her grin froze on her face when her eyes fell on a grumpy-looking Sirius, leaning against the doorpost with both his arms and legs crossed. He was not looking angry, nor was he smirking arrogantly like he had done on their first flying lesson, but he certainly was not smiling at her either. Instead, he looked worried. Unable to resist the temptation, Mary made a u-turn so she could look at him. "What?" she asked in a bold voice.

Sirius was unfazed by her stare. "You call this flying?"

"I'm in a room the size of a shoebox!"

"That's not the point. I'm looking at your technique. Or lack of it, more like," he said frowning as he turned towards Oliver. "How often did you guys practice in Brazil?"

"Er..." Oliver shot a doubtful look at his mother. "A couple of times, I think?"

"Oliver..." Sirius said sternly and Mary was somewhat impressed to see him act like an actual responsible parent for once in his life.

The young boy shrank under his father's look. "Maybe twice?"

Sirius looked up at Mary. "Is that true?"

"No! Or well, maybe he is," Mary said quickly, realizing she could not tell Sirius a lie in front of their son. "But I'm not a terrible flyer anymore. Look!"

She smoothly took two sharp turns in a row... and nearly crashed into the large clothing cabinet in the corner. The silence from the men behind her could not have been more deafening. Mary sighed. It was time to admit defeat. She dropped back to the ground and got off as elegantly as her bruised confidence allowed her to. "Fine..." she said grudgingly, leaning on the handle. "So I cannot really fly this thing. But it's temperamental, I'm sure with any other broomstick-"

"-I'm not sure, mum. You should be able to fly this one too. You did back on the ranch."

Oliver was biting his lip, but Sirius was looking up expectantly. "This is your broomstick, Oliver? What kind do you fly?"

"The most recent of the Nimbus series."

Sirius nodded and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Right... Right. I'll be back." He turned on his heel and headed out of the door. They could hear him quickly descending the stairs. It only took about a minute before there were multiple footsteps on the stairs. Sirius returned to the room, both Ron and Erin hot on his heels. He was holding out a rather battered-looking broom to her. Mary screwed up her nose at the sight of it. "What's that?"

The look on the disdain might have gone by unnoticed to most people, but not Sirius, who smirked in return. "Well, I'm sorry, your highness. Does this fine broom not live up to your royal standards?"

Mary shot him a glare. "It's not looking too fancy, now is it? Will it still go up in the air?"

"Of course it will."

"Is that a classic Shooting Star?" Oliver asked, who had come up to have a closer look. "That's a real decent broom, mum. Just not as fast as-"

"-Every other broom out there", Ron finished, grinning at Mary. "It's really loyal, though. Gotta try real hard to fall of this one. You're welcome to use it tonight."

"Thanks, I guess," Mary replied, still a little hesitant.

Ron however took her answer as a solid yes. He was elbowing Sirius with an excited look on his face. "Hey Sirius, d'you think mum and dad will get me a brand new one if this one breaks up on the way?"

"They might," Sirius grinned back.

"Fancy that! I should definitely get something more flashy than this old thing if I want to make it on the Quidditch team."

"You're not playing?" Oliver asked with interest. "How can that be? From what I've seen, you're a pretty good Keeper."

"Oh well, you know," he shrugged modestly, but Mary could not help but notice how his chest was swelling slightly with pride and his ears were turning bright pink. It seemed that Ron was not used to being complimented about his skills often. "Anyway," he continued, "I received another owl from Harry this morning. Do you think it would be okay to-"

"-No," Sirius interrupted. "You know what Dumbledore said about writing Harry."

"I know, but normally we send each other plent- er... like a couple of owls each Summer," Ron continued nonchalantly as he headed down the corridor, noticing Erin was still watching them closely. "I'm just saying, he might know something's up, that's all."

Sirius grinned, following the redheaded boy out of the room. "With Harry, I would be disappointed if he had not figured out anything by now."

After Oliver asked Mary if she would be alright now, he excused himself to go to the bathroom. It was just Mary and Erin left in the dusty room and by the way her daughter was positioning herself in the room, Mary knew something was up right away. "So what d'you think of this ancient thing?" she asked, pointing to the old wooden handle in her hands.

"It looks like an accident waiting to happen", Erin replied sulkily.

"Well, I sure hope not. I am supposed to be Healing people if necessary, not the other way around.

Erin shrugged moodily, reticent once again. Mary sighed impatiently. When it came to being open about her emotions, her daughter could be so alike her father it was driving her nuts. "Erin love, I can see something's bothering you. So out with it."

The girl crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the dusty floor in silence for a moment, but she did look up eventually. Her bright grey eyes looked just as worried as Sirius's had done only moments before when she was still trying to fly Oliver's feisty broomstick. "Didn't you tell us not to go outside because it's too dangerous because of the Death Eaters and stuff?"

"Yes," she replied a little apprehensively, knowing what Erin was getting at.

"So then why are you jeopardizing your life to pick up 'The Boy Who Lived' and take him here?" The 'The Boy Who Lived'-part came out full of contempt, and Mary walked over towards her. She conjured two wooden chairs out of thin air and sat down, meanwhile gesturing Erin to do the same, who did so, albeit grudgingly.

"There is a long and a short answer to that. Which one do you want to hear?"

"I just... Don't get why everybody is so fussed about this Harry. Why is he so important all of the sudden?"

"First of all, no one in the world is more important to me than you and Oliver. However, you've heard of Lord Voldemort, haven't you? This was a very bad wizard who once tried to kill Harry and his family. His parents did not survive the attack, but against all odds, Harry did. Now, to some people here in Britain, that makes him sort of a wizard God. He's famous all over the country. I don't know if this fame has gotten to his head or anything, but if he takes after his parents who I used to know very well, I'm sure he's turned out alright."

"Dad cannot seem to stop talking about him," Erin said gloomily, fidgeting with a tiny hole in the sleeve of her dark green sweater. "Once Ron gets going..." She sighed. "Well, you saw what happened just here. It's like Oliver and I don't exist anymore as soon as Harry comes into play. And I..."

She hesitated. "Yes...?" Mary said encouragingly.

"I don't know, I do really like Hermione, Ron and Ginny, but... But it's like they're all in love with him or something. And I don't get it! I've seen photographs, and he's not that cute."

"Maybe not." Mary could not prevent a smile from creeping up her face, meanwhile making a mental note to herself to discuss this with Sirius later that night.

"So why does he deserve a bloody bodyguard service when traveling over here?"

"Well, the thing is... Hang on," Mary said, as something was downing upon her. "How do you know all this?"

The girl flushed.

"Erin!"

"Promise you won't tell anyone I blabbed?"

"You won't be having dinner with us tonight if you do not tell me truth, young lady."

Erin cringed. "It's Fred and George. They developed some kind of big ears that we use to eavesdrop on Order meetings."

"You've got to be kidding me."

"They just feel it's unfair that Mrs. Weasley is keeping us out when it's about Harry."

"Hmm..."

"So are you gonna say anything?" Erin asked anxiously. "Tell Mrs. Weasley about the ears, I mean?"

Mary thought about this for a moment. She knew the responsible thing to do here was to inform Molly and Arthur about this immediately, but she realized Erin and Oliver were still new in the group and their position was delicate. Harry's friends would never forgive Erin if discovered she had told her mother about the eavesdropping-device. She decided on throwing in an old case of parent-child negotiation."Well, eavesdropping should never be rewarded. However, when you are this loyal to a friend that you are willing to invent such a clever thing... That's quite remarkable. You know, I think I may be able to let this one slide. However..."

"What?" Erin asked, clearly looking relieved enough to listen.

"I need you to do something for me in return. Tonight, after we get Harry to Grimmauld Place safely, will you promise to be nice? I'm not asking you to become best friends, but believe me that I would not be going on this Order mission if Harry's life was not in danger. He does not know about you and Oliver yet. Or me, for that matter. But that's all about to change. And things'll work out a lot more smoothly if you give him the benefit of the doubt for now, alright?"

Erin exhaled through her noise noisily. "I guess I don't really have a choice here, do I?"

"Nope. Not if you don't want me to go and spoil the beans to Mrs. Weasley."

"You're mean."

"But you love me anyway."

"I guess I do."

Later that night, a small group of Order members was gathering in the hall of Grimmauld Place. Mad-Eye Moody was currently assigning positions, while Mary was studying her broom rather studiously. She was going to fly on by far the oldest broomstick of the bunch and hoped she would be able to keep up with everyone else. The sudden appearance of Moody's whizzing magical eye in front of her was instantly pulling her mind back to the present and she did her best not to flinch at his intimidating stare. "Woods," he grunted. "You will cover the rear with Nymphadora ("Tonks!") and Lupin. I expect you to be watchful at all times. Mind you, you're still dead to the wizarding world. And despite of all the unsettling things people witnessed happening this past Summer, a dead witch flying on a broom is not one of them."

Tonks snorted and Mary coughed, trying her best to keep a straight face. She managed and nodded curtly. "You know I deliver when I have to, Mad-Eye. I always do."

"Yes, unless there's a convenient chance to run off. You wouldn't know how to disappear again fast enough," Remus was sarcastically muttering behind her, but Moody, currently instructing Hestia Jones and Kingsley Shacklebolt had overheard nevertheless. He swiftly turned and stepped back to have a good look at Lupin with both eyes. "Do I have to remind you there are multiple lives at stake at this mission?"

"I'm well aware of that, Mad-Eye," Remus muttered in return.

"Then I would appreciate it if you leave your personal issues out of this." Moody cast him one last glare before stumbling back to Shacklebolt. Remus remained quiet after this and Mary could not help but feel a little gleeful at his expense. Just what he deserves, she thought to herself. She caught Sirius's eye and to her slight surprise, he was giving her a wink. Wondering if for once he was choosing her side over that of his oldest friends, Mary almost missed Moody's take off call. She focused just on time and zoomed off with everyone else.

The London sky was remarkably cool at night, but not yet cold. It was a pleasant temperature to fly over the city, even with this kind of high speed. So far, Ron's old Shooting Star was doing just fine. It took her another few minutes, but eventually Mary felt comfortable enough to have a look around. They were flying in a tight formation, but since she was situated at the rear, she could still check out the beautiful scenery below. For the first time, Mary found she was really appreciating to be back in Britain.

Nothing ominous happened on the way to Little Whinging and before Mary realized, Privet Drive was coming into view. On the frontline Moody had started a quick descend. So quick in fact (it felt like they were dropping from the air like flies) that not everyone had a chance to anticipate on time. Surprisingly enough, this time it was not Mary who failed to make a proper landing. Instead, it was Tonks who skidded through to the end of street and crashed loudly right into a couple of neatly assorted dustbins, causing one of Moody's infamous rants that were usually directed at Peter Pettigrew back in the old days.

To her credit, Tonks did not even flinch. She merely dusted off her clothes and picked off a banana peel while muttering something about "impersonating a bloody flying carpet was not in the job interview". In the meantime, Remus had cleared up the dustbin mess with one flick of his wand. He smiled when Tonks made the funny comment, and Mary did not fail to notice the look on his tired-looking face when he looked at her. It made her pause momentarily and take her eyes off the street, where she had been placed by Moody to keep a look out for Death Eaters. There was a certain twinkle in his brown eyes she had not seen there since Brice. She watched him closely for another moment, until he looked up and their eyes met. The gentle twinkle was almost immediately replaced by a look of contempt and Mary barely resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She forced herself to turn her attention back to the street. She was way too excited to be seeing Harry again and no glare from Remus Lupin was going to spoil that for her.

"All clear here?"

Once again Moody had appeared almost out of nowhere. Mary told herself to get a grip. "Looks like it."

"We ought to move fast to keep it that way. Let's go, but stay on your guard at all times."

The group followed Moody and they crossed the drive way in silence while keeping an eye on their surroundings. The Auror did not walk up to the front door, as Mary had expected, but instead headed towards the back door near the kitchen. He did not waste any time by using a delicate and soundless glass-breaking spell, but instead broke the window with a basic "Reducto." They watched him and Kinglsey Shakclebolt climb through the window and before anyone of them could have blinked, Kingsley had already restored the broken window behind them with a flick of his wand. A minute later they could hear the stumping sound of Moody's wooden leg, but it turned out to be Kinglsey who opened the front door. "Greetings," he said rather merrily in his deep voice.

"So... Now what?" Tonks asked, looking around curiously.

Mary was studying the hallway just as attentively. The dull interior had Petunia Evans written all over it. She immediately recognized the ugly orange daisy vase on a desk in the corner. Lily had told her about it years ago; her best friend had repeatedly blasted it to the pieces when they were younger, but felt so guilty that she always repaired it in the end. She smiled at the memory of her friend. It has taken me longer than expected,but I'm here to help now, Lil.

Meanwhile, Dedalus Diggle was suggesting to send one of them upstairs and look for Harry. "Don't want to scare the poor lad."

This however proved to be a superfluous gesture, because at that very moment a bright light was coming from the top of the stairs, blinding them all at once. "Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out," Moody growled.

A rather unwelcoming greeting given the fact they were gatecrashing this boy's house, Mary thought, but Harry seemed to recognize this gruff voice instantly. "Professor Moody?"

Moody huffed. "I don't know so much about 'Professor'. Never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."

Harry hesitated – Mary could see that, even from this distance and standing in the darkness – and she frowned, wondering why he was having doubts to lower his wand. She supposed he had good reasons for being suspicious after what happened to him at the end of last year. Next to her, Remus quietly cleared his throat. "It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away."

There was a moment of stunned silence. "P-Professor Lupin? Is that you?"

Tonks heaved an impatient sigh. "Why are we all standing in the dark? Lumos." Her wand-tip flared immediately and all of the sudden, the hall was magically illuminated with the brightest of lights, giving Mary a clear look on what Harry looked like at the age of fourteen. He was the spitting image of James, untidy jetblack hair and all, but even from this distance she could see the bright green eyes behind his glasses. Her heart was beating a lot faster all of the sudden, but it seemed like she was not the only who was in awe at the sight of Harry Potter (albeit for entirely different reasons).

"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would," Tonks was saying excitedly. "Wotcher, Harry!" she grinned.

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," Kingsley Shacklebolt was saying. "He looks exactly like James."

"Except the eyes," Dedalus Diggle noted earnestly. "Lily's eyes."

Harry's eyes were shooting from left to right as if he was wondering if what he was looking at was really happening. His green eyes eventually came to rest on Mary, who resisted the urge to gush over the fact he had grown up so much since the last time she hold him as a toddler and smiled kindly. "Hi, Harry."

Moody on the other hand was still putting security for everything else. "Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" he 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?"

For some reason, he turned back and looked at Mary, who arched an eyebrow. "Oh no, I'm all out," she replied sarcastically.

This earned her an annoyed glare from Moody, but meanwhile Remus was stepping in. "Harry, what form does your Patronus take?"

"A stag."

Mary stared at Harry in awe. He was able to conjure a Patronus at the age of fourteen? That was some powerful wizard...

It was all Remus needed to know. "It's him, Mad-Eye."

There was another moment of silence, until Tonks ushered Harry to come down towards them. He ascended the stairs carefully, realizing everyone was watching his every step. When he put his wand in the back pocket of his oversized jeans, Moody exploded. "Don't put your wand there, boy!" he roared. "What if it ignited? There may be a Healer among us tonight, but she can only do so much. Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"

Tonks looked up and elbowed Moody. "Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?"

"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket," the Auror growled while stumping off towards the kitchen. "Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it any more. And I saw that," he added irritably as Tonks rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.

By this time Harry had reached the bottom of the stairs and seemed lost on what to do next. Mary put a hand on her shoulder and whispered: "Don't you worry, Harry, I would have placed both your buttocks back in place in no time." She winked at him confidentially before following Kingsley and the others towards the kitchen, leaving only Harry and Remus behind in the hallway.

The kitchen and living room of Privet Drive 4 also happened to be 'over-Petuniafied' and Mary wondered how anyone could bear the overkill of old-fashioned china en bowls of potpourri on the window-sill. She leaned back against the sink next to Emmeline Vance and chuckled when Tonks sneezed repeatedly after smelling the potpourri. "Urrrrgh, what is this stuff!"

Mary was about to answer when she heard Remus's voice coming through the door. "...set up Headquarters somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while..."

He walked up to Moody, who was sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye once again spinning in all directions as to keep an eye on what has happening. "This is Alastor Moody, Harry," Remus said.

"Yeah, I know," Harry said after a rather delicate pause.

"And this is Nymphadora-"

"Don'tcall me Nymphadora, Remus." Tonks glared at him, and once again Mary noticed there was something more between them than friendship.

"-Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname Tonks", he finished lightly.

Tonks huffed. "So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora."

"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt," Remus continued. "Elphias Doge. Dedalus Diggle. Sturgis Podmore. Hestia Jones. Emmeline Vance, and Mary Woods."

Mary shook Harry's hand and smiled. "It's so nice to see you again after all these years." The words had escaped her lips before she could stop them, and once again Remus's cold eyes were upon her. Harry was watching the two of them curiously, but Remus quickly guided him away to Moody before he could have asked anything. Mary sighed and rubbed her brow tiredly. "Nice timing," Emmeline was whispering next to her.

"I know," she replied, exhaling slowly. "It just... came out. Last time I saw him he was only a toddler, you know."

"Ah," Emmeline said reasonably, "These things happen to the best of us."

Mary turned her attention back to Lupin, who was just saying: "We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off. We've got about fifteen minutes."

Meanwhile, Tonks was peering into some of the kitchen cabinets. Mary did not feel the need to tell her it was quite rude to be going through other people's possessions like that, simply because she still hated Petunia for how she used to treat her own sister. So instead, she crossed her arms and watched Tonks opening the fridge with an amused look on her face. "Very [i]clean[/i], aren't they, these Muggles?" Tonks said. "My dad's Muggle-bornand he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"

"Er – yeah," Harry replied, looking a bit puzzled. He turned back to Lupin. "Look- what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol-?"

Mary and Remus were not among them, but several witches and wizards in the kitchen made furious hissing voices. Dedalus Diggle dropped his hat and even Moody growled: 'Shut up!"

"What?" Harry asked.

"We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," the Auror elaborated before noticing his magical eye was still focused on the ceiling. "Damn it! It keeps getting stuck – ever since that scum wore it."

He tried to pop out his eye. After three attempts he succeeded and with a nasty squelching sound, the eye popped out into his hands. Mary's stomach turned at the sound of it and Tonks also appeared disgusted by the sight, noting dryly: "Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?"

Moody shrugged and asked Harry to fetch him a glass of water. After the Auror had plunged his eye in the water, he grunted: "I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey."

"How're we getting – wherever we're going?" Harry asked, looking around the group.

"Brooms," Remus replied with the note of a smile on his face. "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 you're a good flyer," Kinglsey was saying from the other end of the room.

"He's excellent," Remus said. "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!" Tonks offered brightly. The two headed upstairs together and they could still hear them talking upstairs while they were gathering Harry's belongings. Meanwhile, the others kept a watchful eye on the environment, since Moody's eye was still bobbing around in the glass of water. Mary tried not to look at it and instead focused on the photographs on the wall in the living room. They were all of Vernon, Petunia and some kid who was way too fat for his own good. Dudley, she reasoned. Harry was nowhere to be found. It was like he did not exist, Mary realized. She felt a surge on outrage on James and Lily's behalf – if they would know how their son was being treated by the Dursleys... James would have wanted to blow up the whole house, and Vernon and Petunia in it.

Mary made a resolution at that very moment; she would provide some kind of home with her family for Harry if it would kill her. He might not know the truth about her, Erin and Oliver yet, but Sirius would explain everything soon enough. And Harry would be more than welcome to spend his holidays at Grimmauld Place with the rest of them. Unable to resist herself, she positioned herself in front of the largest framed picture, sneakily reached for her wand and used it to draw a large and permanent black moustache on Petunia's upper lip.

"Mary, we're getting ready", came Sturgis's voice from the hallway. "Are you coming?"

"I'll be right there."

When Mary had walked back to the rest of the group, she heard Remus informing Harry that he had left a little note for the Dursleys, explaining where they had gone. "-so they won't have to worry-"

"-They won't," Harry said.

"-And that you're safe-"

"That'll just depress them."

"-and you'll see them again next Summer."

"Do I have to?"

At that moment, Moody pulled Harry towards him. "Come here, boy. I need to Disillusion you."

"You need to do what?" Harry asked, looking nervous.

"Disillusionment Charm. 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 tapped him on the head, making Harry disappear entirely in seconds. "Nice one, Mad-Eye," Tonks said, a note of admiration in her voice.

"Come on," Moody said undisturbed, unlocking the back door with his wand. Everyone, including the currently invisible Harry, stepped out on the lawn. "Clear night," the Auror mumbled. "Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right, you!" he shouted 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 anything for anyone, got me? If one of us is killed-"

"Is that likely?" Harry asked, a note of apprehension in his voice.

Moody ignored him. "-the others keep flying, don't stop, don't break ranks. If they take out all of us, Harry, and you survive, the rear guard are standing by to take over, keep flying east and they'll join you."

Mary noticed the look of sheer horror on the boy's face. This was no way to start off a mission. She was about to say something about it to Moody, but was beaten to the punch by Tonks: "Stop being so cheerful, Mad-Eye, he'll think we're not taking this seriously."

Moody glared at her. "I'm just telling the boy the plan. Our job's to deliver him safely to Headquarters and if we die in the attempt-"

Kingsley decided to intervene at this very moment. "No one is going to die," he said reassuringly.

Meanwhile, Remus had spotted a shower of red sparks way up in the sky. "Mount your brooms," he called, "that's the first signal!"

Mary had only just swung her right leg over her broomstick when a second shower of sparks, green this time, exploded far above them, and Remus shouted: "Second signal, let's go!"

The group ascended the dark sky even faster than on their journey towards Little Whinging earlier that night, the neat square gardens of Privet Drive falling away quickly and soon turning into a patchwork of dark greens and blacks. Mary was on the left side of Tonks and Moody and kept a close eye on the first signs of a possible attack. She was starting to relax a little bit after ten minutes or so, and actually enjoyed this flight back to London. She felt like Moody had been overreacting slightly about the current death threat, but she had always fully agreed with him on one matter: in a world full of Death Eaters, constant vigilance could be just the difference between life or death.

- End of Update -

* Song from the title: Dont's Stop (Color On The Walls) by Foster The People.