THE ADVANCE GUARD

Here's another chapter! Thank you so much to everyone that has continued reading this story! It means so much to me that even after a wait of several months, people have stuck with this and have continued to read it. Thanks a bunch! I hope you like this chapter.

I sat in the library of Grimmauld Place, waiting for the other members of the Guard to arrive. The plan was all set. Tonks had written to the Dursleys and told them that they were finalists for the All-England Best-Kept Suburban Lawn Competition, and Mad-Eye had fully trained all the members in, as he called it, "proper awareness and preparedness for the probably life-threatening". All that was left to do now was to fly to Privet Drive and retrieve Harry.

We were to meet at headquarters precisely at eight o'clock in order to do a final check of everything that we would need before we took off. It was now 7:50, giving me ten (and with Mad-Eye in charge probably closer to seven) minutes to finish my book before our flight.

I flipped the page and rapidly scanned my eyes across the words, desperately trying to get through the last fifteen pages in time. As I neared the end of the fifth page, the door burst open, revealing a rather disheveled-looking Tonks.

"Wotcher, Remus," she greeted, turning to me and taking a step toward the entrance to the library. Her foot caught on the troll leg umbrella stand, causing her to fall flat on her nose. She rose and brushed herself off, quietly cursing her clumsiness and the newly screaming portrait of Mrs. Black under her breath. I couldn't help but chuckle, prompting her to turn to me, her face bright scarlet. "I don't know why Sirius leaves that thing there," she defended, pointing to the fallen stand with disgust. "It's more of an instrument of torture where it is now. I swear I fall over it every time I come in here, and every time it wakes up that dreadful woman," she added with a roll of her eyes.

I laughed, marking my place in my book and closing it quietly.

"So," she began as I placed my book back on the shelf and rose from my seat, "ready for tonight?"

"I think so," I returned a bit awkwardly.

She laughed, "Probably have to be after all those training sessions," she joked, referring to Mad-Eye's many meticulous run-throughs of how tonight would progress. I smiled, feeling a bit more at ease. "What was it you were reading?" she asked conversationally with a nod toward the bookshelf.

"Oh," I answered, absentmindedly scanning my eyes over every book spine, having suddenly forgotten what it was I was reading. "I was just reading some, um," I thought, my brow furrowing, "some Sheppley."

"I didn't know you read his books," she returned.

"Yeah, I've read a few," I continued. "I think they're well-written, and they help me get my mind off of—" I cut off with a sigh, "well, everything that's been going on."

She nodded with a small, sympathetic smile as two more people filed into the house.

"Is no one else here yet," Dedalus squeaked, Hestia following close at his heels.

"No," Tonks answered cheerily. "We're still waiting for five more. Sturgis said he might be a bit late, though."

Dedalus nodded and headed into the kitchen. Within moments, Kingsley, Emmeline, Elphias, and Mad-Eye had arrived at Grimmauld Place, and we all waited in the kitchen for our ninth and final member's arrival.

"Where the devil is Sturgis?" Mad-Eye asked angrily after around five minutes of waiting. "Doesn't he understand that this is a very time-sensitive operation?"

Tonks rolled her eyes. "He got held up at the Ministry," she explained. "I don't think you can really blame the poor man."

Mad-Eye gave a firm "hmph", his eye whizzing madly around in its socket as he gazed impatiently at his watch with his good eye.

"Well, if he's not here in two minutes, we'll have to leave him behind."

Almost as if on cue, Sturgis hurriedly pushed through the front door of Grimmauld Place. "Sorry I'm late," he apologized. "Fudge had me running errands for him to Scotland and back."

"It's alright," Emmeline reassured. "We haven't been waiting that long."

Mad-Eye rolled his good eye and herded everyone into the entryway. "Remember," he stated gruffly, "we each have our positions. Stay in formation, and don't break ranks if one of us is killed."

I glanced to see Tonks roll her eyes with a sigh at Mad-Eye's last comment as we each grabbed our brooms and headed outside the house. I took my position near the front of the pack, Dedalus standing directly behind me.

"On the count of three, everyone!" Mad-Eye yelled so everyone could hear. "One, two, three!" I kicked my feet hard off the ground, feeling the warm night air breeze through my hair as we took off toward Privet Drive.

Sorry for the short chapter, but I wanted to give you some pre-rescue action :) And yes, I did steal the chapter title as well as a few quotes from OotP, but I thought that they fit well.

I hope you liked this chapter! Don't forget to Review, please!

On a bit of a different note, I started another Lupin family story called "Falling into Place" a while ago (feel free to check it out on my profile if you're interested), and since I think both of these stories will be a bit long, I'm going to alternate my updates. So, my next update will be on that one, and then I'll update this one again. I just wanted to let you know in case it takes me a little longer to post chapters. I'm hoping to get an update in about once a week, but I may take a bit longer. Just wanted to give you all a heads up!

Thanks again for reading :)