Hey everyone! Sorry for the radio silence. I've been pretty busy lately- I'm trying to find a job, moving out, and I joined a scanlation group and the spriting team for Pokemon Wilds so I haven't had a ton of time to really work on this. I'm actually posting my buffer chapter to tide you over for the next while. But I hope you enjoy!

For a few moments, everything seemed to become slow and blurry to Harry, Edward and Hermione, as if time had been slowed down. They already had their wands in hand as the guests were just starting to realize that something strange had happened. As Kingsley's Patronus disappeared, silence spread like an icy wave, starting from the center of the room and extending to all the guests. Then someone screamed and terror began to spread over the wedding party.

Harry, Edward and Hermione rushed into the panicked crowd. Guests were running around like headless chickens, some looking for their spouses and their children. Others Apparated in large numbers, which only meant one thing: the protective spells around the Burrow had been broken, which meant that soon there would be Death Eaters arriving.

"Ron! Ron?! Where are you?" Exclaimed Hermione, mad with fear.

As they made their way through the frightened crowd, they saw silhouettes shrouded in capes and silver masks appear in the mob. At that moment, the Order members standing here and there cast Protegos, their wands held up. Harry had time to catch a glimpse of Neville, his face fierce, shielding Luna from the hexes by using both his wand and his left hand, casting wandless spells discreetly so as not to reveal his trump card. Luna did the same, touching her forehead as if to concentrate the power of her magical heart.

But this moment of inattention almost proved fatal for Harry as the small group was violently shoved by terrified guests and Edward and Harry tightened their grasp on Hermione so as not to be separated. A streak of light brushed past them, but it was impossible to tell if it was a protection spell or a more sinister signal like the Dark Mark.

Ron then appeared and he clutched at Hermione's waist since both of her arms were already taken by Edward and Harry. At that moment, each member of the small group spun in place and the images of terror and the sounds of fear and spells vanished, erased by the darkness that descended on each of them. They only felt each other as they were sucked into space time, far from the Burrow, far from the Death Eaters who were emerging from everywhere and far from Voldemort himself who perhaps would appear…

"Where are we?" Ron asked, still in shock.

Harry opened his eyes and saw that they were in the middle of a crowd. He looked at Edward and saw that he was deathly pale. He began vomiting his guts out, much to the disgust of those present who obviously thought he had drunk too much judging by their comments. Edward was known to have magical motion sickness and it had been particularly trying and brutal for him.

"We're at Tottenham Court Road, London," Hermione replied to Ron's question. "Keep walking straight ahead as if there is nothing amiss and as soon as we find a good spot we'll change into Muggle clothes."

Harry, Ron, and Edward obeyed and walked, half-running along the wide, dark street lined with closed shops under a starry sky. The avenue teemed with night owls- not at all an ideal place to hide and they were noticed more and more by groups of merry revelers making the rounds of the pubs and who were taken aback by the sight of the three boys wearing dress robes.

"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into." Ron told her, as a young woman burst into raucous giggles at the sight of him.

"Why didn't I make sure I had the Invisibility Cloak with me?" said Harry, inwardly cursing his own stupidity. "All last year I kept it on me and-"

"It's okay, I've got the Cloak, I've got clothes for you. Just try and act naturally until- this will do."

She led them down a side street, then into the shelter of a shadowy alleyway.

"Wait, you mean my cloak and clothes are in that tiny little bag?" Harry asked, staring at Hermione's little pearl bag that she was holding in her hand as if there was nothing more precious.

"Yes, they're in there. Accio Invisibility Cloak, Edward's clothes, Ron's clothes, and Harry's clothes. "

Soon each boy had before him a small pile of stuff in which they hastened to change into to be more comfortable. Hermione kept her dress robe which could pass for a classy muggle type garment on. Ron then asked the essential question:

"What charm is that?"

"Undetectable Extension Charm. Very difficult because, as Edward said, you have to have some basic physics at university level to understand it. Avoid shaking it, I took care to classify all the books by subject, it would be silly to disturb them…" Said Hermione, showing them the small bag in turn.

"Have I ever told you you're a genius, Hermione?" Ron asked weakly, once fully dressed, his backpack on his back.

"Several times but it doesn't hurt to hear it, especially from you." Hermione said blushing.

"Well, there's nothing we can do. Hermione, you'll give me this whole theory when we're safe so I understand how this thing works," Edward said.

He was dressed in his usual outfit that he wore in Amestris: black boots, black pants, a black sleeveless shirt, and a long red hooded jacket that hid his long blonde hair. He looked very comfortable in his clothes and looked completely natural, even in that dark little alley that would have made a decent den for cut-throats.

"We have to find a better place to plan further. Now, Harry, you put on that cloak! I would feel more at ease if you had it on you."

"The others, the wedding guests… Ginny…" Harry stammered, his gaze frantic.

"We can't worry about that now. It's you they're after, Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back." Hermione whispered, putting her hand on Harry's shoulder.

"Going back there now won't help them. Worse still, they could be accused of complicity or be kept as hostages, or even executed on the spot to injure you. Right now the Weasleys are already suspected of being in the Order, if you come back for them they will be sure. As long as you don't go back and screw it all up, they're likely to survive this night." Edward said harshly.

"They're right. Also, most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone." Ron agreed, knowing all too well what was tormenting Harry.

"Okay, we have to get out of here. We should find a place to discuss the follow-up like a bar or something like that. Somewhere quiet."

"Your propensity to look for bars worries me, Edward. But you are right. Let's go." Hermione said.

"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked.

""I've no idea, it just popped into my head but I'm sure we're safe in the Muggle world. The Death Eaters won't think of looking for us there, they despise Muggles too much." Hermione said.

"It's a good idea, Hermione. By now, there must be panic in Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade, in all the wizarding corners… I hope the wizards will have enough common sense to stay at home tonight." Edward said grimly, well aware of what happened in the event of a coup.

"I feel a little exposed here…" Ron muttered who was uncomfortable in a place surrounded by Muggles. He rarely saw so many at once.

"Where else is there?" asked Hermione, cringing as the men on the other side of the road started wolf-whistling at her. Ron stepped to block their view of her. "We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape's told the other Death Eaters about it... I suppose we could try my parents' house, though I think there's a chance they might check there… Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"

"All right, darling? Fancy a drink? Ditch the ginger and little blondie and come and have a pint!"

Ron, with a simple snap of his fingers, made the drunk's belt disappear and he found himself in his underpants in front of his friends- which allowed the guy to escape Edward's anger, the latter feeling that the ridicule would hurt him more than a good punch in the face. At Hermione's instigation, they entered a seedy little all-night cafe and settled into a booth. Harry, concealed under his invisibility cloak, sat down facing the door, as did Edward who was too paranoid to take his eyes off the entrance and remove his hood hiding his face. Meanwhile Ron and Hermione sat in front of them. The couple were so nervous that they kept glancing behind them to make sure no Death Eaters could get them from behind.

"You know, we're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here. We could run around to find out what really happened."

"No, Ron, that would be too dangerous."

"Also, don't forget that from now on, you're supposed to be stuck in bed with Spattergroit. If you showed yourself there, they would suspect your family…"

"Besides, we know very well what's going on, Voldemort has taken over the Ministry! What else do you need to know?"

They relapsed into a prickly silence. The gum-chewing waitress shuffled over. Ed ordered a black coffee and Hermione ordered two cappuccinos: As Harry was invisible, it would have looked odd to order him one. A pair of burly workmen entered the café and squeezed into the next booth. Hermione dropped her voice to a whisper.

"I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside. Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."

"Good… I know very well how to survive in the countryside…" Edward muttered, remembering his childhood and his month-long stay on a nearly deserted island.

"Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" asked Ron.

"I've been practicing and I think so," said Hermione.

"What if they're being watched? It will take a message vague enough so that the Death Eaters do not suspect them. I think we should first wait for them to send us news before putting them in danger." Edward whispered, gulping down his black coffee without sugar or milk and wincing in disgust.

"Ed has a good point. God, that's revolting" Ron added after one sip of the foamy, grayish coffee the cafe had the audacity to call cappuccino.

The waitress had heard; she shot Ron a nasty look as she shuffled off to take the new customers' orders. The larger of the two workmen, who was blond and quite huge, waved her away and she stared at them with annoyance. Immediately Edward and Harry frowned: Was it paranoia to treat customers who didn't order anything in a cafe as suspicious? But as Moody would have said so well, it wasn't paranoia if they really were after you.

Ed nodded to Harry to confirm his suspicions and Harry made the silent gesture of bending down to Ron and Hermione. The Circle members were well trained to respond to that kind of sign and Ron and Hermione threw themselves under the table while Harry, hidden under the invisibility cloak, threw two stunners at the two customers while Edward took charge of the waitress. No better cure than prevention, after all.

"If we've attacked Muggles for no reason we're going to be in serious trouble with the Ministry," Ron commented wryly.

"I think our relationship with the Ministry is not doing well anyway." Hermione replied, ignoring the joke.

"They weren't Muggles anyway. I recognize this one, he was there the night Dumbledore died." Harry said in disgust, pointing to the tall blond Death Eater slumped on the bench.

"This one is Dolohov," Ron said with a hint of hatred in his voice. "He tried to kill Hermione in the Department of Mysteries and I remember his ugly face. It was put on old posters ... The big one's name is Thorfinn Rowle."

"Never mind what they're called! How did they find us?" said Hermione a little hysterically. "You- you don't think you've still got your Trace on you, do you, Harry?"

Somehow her panic seemed to clear Harry's head, who promptly ordered Ron to turn off the lights using his deluminator as Hermione locked the door. Edward, meanwhile, had just put on a deadly serious look and asked Ron:

"So, if I understood correctly, Dolohov is an old recruit among the Death Eaters, that means he is probably able to resist the Cruciatus or torture. The other must be a more recent recruit, so maybe he'll be more sensitive to my tough questioning."

"Edward," Hermione yelped, giving him a terrified look, "You aren't going to torture him, are you?"

Harry and Ron seemed to share an uncertain, almost disoriented air, not really knowing who to support in this exchange.

"I don't want to, believe me, but since I got here I had to administer a torture potion to a man I respected. I am no longer closed to that. You can go into the next room while I take care of it." Edward said coldly.

He knew that Olivier Armstrong would have approved of his reasoning and even congratulated him on it, but it made him sick to do what he was about to do. Torture wasn't his thing and he wouldn't enjoy it. But he was wrong earlier when he said that the end does not justify the means. When lives were on the line, sometimes you had to cross the line between white and black and venture into shades of gray. He wouldn't be proud of it, but he wouldn't take sadistic pleasure in it, even if he would have to fake it. After all, it was important for him to show his victim that he was ready to go all the way, otherwise he would lie to save his skin.

Edward waited for his three friends to hide under the invisibility cloak, ready to step in in case things went wrong or if Ed crossed the line. The latter pointed his wand and cast a Petrificus Totalus modified by himself to allow the use of speech on the tall blond Death Eater before waking him up with an angry blow. He then coldly asked the Death Eater how he had found him. The tall blond Death Eater looked panicked, but he answered him with an obscenity. At that moment, Edward took a deep breath and kicked the Death Eater's family jewels with a left kick before repeating his question in a firm voice. Under the cloak, the two boys exchanged a glance and a painful grimace.

The Death Eater seemed suddenly seized with an idea and an evil air, he said, in a stammering tone:

"V-Vol-Voldemort!"

At that moment three cracks sounded and before Edward could react he found himself tied up by shiny black cords that began to tighten around him, causing him to cry out in pain before he could breathe. Harry emerged from his invisibility cloak and, taking advantage of the surprise of the three Death Eaters, stunned one. Still hiding under Harry's cloak, Ron and Hermione took charge of the other two by unleashing Stunner spells at them to knock them out. They cast another one at Rowle so he wouldn't see them.

Hermione then rushed at Edward and threw a Diffindo with an uncertain hand that cut the boy's black jeans and then another that released him from the evil ropes that threatened to choke him. Edward fell to the ground taking deep breaths, his face purplish from the cords. He whispered a thank you before getting up with Ron's help.

"Okay, I think we have the answer to our question. Apparently, uttering His name brings together a lot of Death Eaters. I think we're going to be reasonable and call him You-Know-Who or Riddle." He declared.

There was a moment of silence as they nervously waited for more Death Eaters to come back but none appeared. There was a collective sigh of relief and everyone turned to Harry to decide what to do:

"What are we going to do with them? Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now, but…" Ron whispered, giving Edward a wary look.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. Torture's not my usual thing and I only did it out of desperation, to get answers!"

"That's reassuring." Hermione commented in a neutral tone.

"Don't worry," Harry said, putting his hand on Edward's shoulder. "I too attempted to torture Bellatrix Lestrange with the Cruciatus curse after she killed Sirius and I too made Dumbledore drink the damned poison. You don't have to take all the blame. And thanks to you, we know what to avoid and at least now we know it's not the Trace. As for the Death Eaters, don't kill them or they'll know for sure we were there. We're just going to erase their memory."

"I'll take care of it. I should have thought about using Legilimency instead of taking the risk of torturing that Death Eater. Because of me, this could have turned out very badly." Edward said, shaking his head at his stupidity. He plunged his golden gaze into the pupils of the unconscious Death Eaters and grilled the neurons containing the memories of their meeting with the members of the Circle with his very effective Obliviate.

Then they quickly decided on their next destination: 12 Grimmauld Place. But before going, they set up the staging of a fight between Death Eaters and they put the waitress in a safe place so when she awoke on her own she wouldn't suffer the fallout from the Death Eaters' failure. They spun around and vanished as the Death Eaters barely began to stir.

They landed in the middle of a small square and hurried up the steps of 12 Grimmauld Place four at a time. They each flicked their wands on the door so that the house would let them in. The latter hadn't changed much: it was still dirty and dark with her cobwebs, decapitated elf heads and umbrella stand in the shape of an overturned Troll's leg as if Tonks had tripped over it again…

Harry wondered aloud what spells had been cast against Snape but they soon found out: Moody's voice rang out asking if they were Severus Snape and then their tongues curled around themselves, a sign, according to Hermione, of a Tongue-Tying Curse. Then the nightmarish appearance of a zombie Albus Dumbledore startled the quartet with a terrible shock and they could only make the horrible figure disappear once they claimed they hadn't killed him.

For a few moments, the four teenagers remained seated on the floor, still in the shock of what they had just experienced before they came to their senses and Hermione cast detection spells, although Edward pointed out that with the racket they had made, any intruder must have taken flight.

They went up to the drawing room and collapsed on the dusty sofas, squirting clouds of dust into the air as Ron checked to make sure no one was watching them from the window. At that moment Harry gave a small cry of pain and rubbed his scar with a grimace as he felt a fury that was not his own overwhelm him. He hastened to conjure up the image of his mother in an attempt to restrain this anger. When he opened his eyes he saw that his friends were examining him worriedly, Ron more than the others.

"Please tell me he's not at my house..." the redhead whispered, pale.

"No, I just felt his anger. I think if he had killed someone I would have seen him do it."

"But I thought that connection had closed!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah, but apparently it was more from Vol- uh, You Know Who," Harry caught himself, "than from me. I can now keep it from lingering too long in my mind, but that's it." Harry sighed.

In fact, according to Edward and him's hypothesis, the problem was more complicated than that: because of the Horcrux that must be in him, it was impossible to close that connection permanently. He could only limit it or try to lessen the pain caused by his scar, but nothing more. Except that he couldn't admit that to Ron and Hermione without revealing that he was a Horcrux himself.

Harry's dark thoughts were interrupted when a weasel-shaped Patronus appeared in the living room through the window asserting with Ron's father's voice that the Weasleys were safe and sound but watched. Everyone sighed in relief and Ron hugged his girlfriend with a look of relief on his face as Hermione patted him on the back, glad his family weren't in immediate danger. Harry himself felt calmer now that he knew Ginny was okay. Hermione suggested that they all sleep in the living room, which was approved by everyone.

But in the meantime, the pain from Harry's scar was making itself felt again and Harry ran to the bathroom and locked himself there just in time. He saw the vision of Voldemort ordering the thin, frozen-faced Draco to torture the Death Eaters they had faced within an hour. Voldemort's tone was ruthless and he seemed to revel in the suffering of his loyal servants. Draco looked disgusted, but mostly by himself. He seemed to want to be anywhere except there. But when you only have the choice between torturing or being tortured…

Harry believed that the vision would end there, but Voldemort turned to a masked Death Eater and motioned for him to follow him. Once they entered an office, they began a discussion which Voldemort initiated by asking to know where the preparations for the ritual were.

The Death Eater took off his mask and Harry recognized Rockwood, the one who had kidnapped and tortured his friend for weeks. He bowed very low in front of his master while saying:

"The ritual can be held in place when we get our hands on the child designated by the prophecy. Now that we've got our hands on some of the Ministry's investigations, it looks like we should focus on-"

But at that moment, the connection abruptly ended, probably due to Voldemort's interest in this prophecy that eclipsed his rage. Harry almost cursed: he hadn't been able to hear the name of the person concerned who was going to be in grave danger from now on. However, Harry wasn't stupid. There was only one second prophecy that might interest Voldemort- Edward's- and since it concerned him, it was a safe bet that he was the unfortunate victim of the Dark Lord's future plans. He would have to tell him discreetly, even though, knowing him, Harry suspected that his friend already knew.

However, when night came, he quietly explained his vision to the blond and saw Edward's eyes narrowing slightly as he seemed to consider what Harry had just revealed to him.

"You're right. Chances are it is me, if it's the prophecy relevant to me." Of course it was, but Ed had no intention of revealing more about himself without breaking his contract with Truth.

"At this point, we don't even need to put it down to probability anymore, Ed!" Harry protested in a voice a little too loud.

"What are you two talking about? You're going to wake up 'Mione…" Ron muttered, half-sleep.

"Nothing!" The two answered in chorus with a slightly guilty tone.

Then their drowsiness finally triumphed over their habits and they fell into a sleep filled with nightmares where their loved ones were tortured to discover their location...

The next morning Harry woke up early to find Edward doing his morning exercises. The blue sky filtered through the dark curtains and a ray of sunlight spread over his face, dazzling him. The blond motioned for Harry to remain silent, pointing at Ron and Hermione who seemed to have fallen asleep hand in hand.

Harry decided to join his friend for his workout and began the warm-ups prescribed by Oliver Wood and which he himself had ordered during his time both on the Gryffindor team and in the Circle. His exercises did him good but at the same time, they gave free rein to insidious thoughts which came to nestle in his mind: What was the exact relationship between Dumbledore and his sister? Had she really been imprisoned by her own family? How had he been affected?

He picked up the pace of his push-ups to avoid thinking about the other questions that tormented him: Why had Dumbledore never confided in him? Why had he left him with no more clues for this horcrux hunt? Had he ever cared about Harry? After all, hadn't he left him in front of the Dursleys' door like a bottle of milk… Had he only been a weapon in a war between good and evil, Dumbledore on one side and Voldemort on the other?

Obviously, exhausting himself doing pushups was not helping him to silence these questions that were creeping into his mind. Luckily, Edward seemed to have noticed. He motioned for him to stop and the two of them walked up the stairs to the upper floors to explore the house. Apparently, it had been ransacked: the sheets had been torn from the beds and the closet doors were open. Fortunately (or not) the intruder must have had plenty of time to escape upon hearing their noise from last night- or maybe it was Mundungus Fletcher who had robbed the house... It was impossible to know.

Harry entered Sirius' bedroom on the second floor and gazed with wistful amusement at his godfather's very Gryffindor decorations. He had also had the nerve to display posters of Muggle pinups, no doubt to annoy his parents. There was also an old photo of the Marauders group which Harry gazed at with some sadness knowing what had become of each of the subjects: his father and godfather died in two wars, Pettigrew became a Death Eater on the other side and Remus, the only true survivor, married but still afflicted by his lycanthropy.

Harry then looked at the papers lying on the floor as well as the books thrown about unceremoniously. He heard Edward growl like an angry cat as he fixed the books with the flick of a magic wand. The Ravenclaw was always so respectful of the venerable works.

Harry then discovered an old letter that came from his mother and was addressed to Padfoot. Harry winced with joy as he read this living proof that his mother had been a flesh and blood person, alive. After his emotion has passed, he thinks a little more about the meaning of the letter. The passage about the invisibility cloak was strange but he remembered that on his first Christmas at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had written to him that his father had left it to him…

Was it to help another Order member or to prevent his father from leaving their hiding place? In any case, it would have been very useful to them that Halloween night… Then, what did his mother find so incredible about Dumbledore that she wrote it down? Could this be a potential clue or an answer to his existential questions? Harry searched eagerly for the rest of the letter but was unsuccessful. He only found an old torn photo. But as he continued to search for the end of the letter anyway, Hermione's voice interrupted him:

"Harry! Edward! Is that you? Ron! I found them!"

Ron's voice rang out with a faint echo:

"Good! Tell them they're morons!"

"I don't think that they're deaf and that they understood perfectly. So, are you the ones who messed up the room?"

"I'll let you know I'm a perfectly tidy person, thank you very much," Edward retorted before adding: "The room was already like this even though Harry digging around didn't help matters."

Harry finally showed them the letter and indicated the end of the letter which interested him more particularly about Dumbledore. He thought Bathilda Bagshot might know more about his parents and the old headmaster. Hermione gave a knowing smile, believing that Harry wanted to know more about his parents but he was trying to deceive her by saying that it was Dumbledore that he wanted to know more about. The brunette sighed, asking him if he really wanted to let people like Muriel or Skeeter tarnish Dumbledore's memory. But Edward intervened then, much to Harry's relief, explaining his own thoughts thusly:

"It's not a question of how we look at Dumbledore. Knowing the truth is what counts. And I believe Harry wants to know the truth about someone who has made such an impact in his life. It's important to him, can't you see that?"

"Sometimes you can be disappointed with the truth." Hermione whispered, not looking at Harry.

"Maybe, but no matter how well hidden, the truth always ends up resurfacing and if we have been fooled by lies, it is all the more hurtful. It is always better to seek the truth than to knowingly stray into a false image."

And with that, the blond turned away.