DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter et. al. belongs to J.K. Rowling, etc.
Chapter Two: Rescuing Harry
The night air did indeed turn chill as Lupin and the rest of the Advance Guard made their way to Little Whinging. Lupin pulled his robes more tightly around his shoulders, but it did little to warm him. He had always been more susceptible to extremes in temperature, ever since becoming afflicted. His eyes drifted across the cloudy sky. One week from now, it would happen again, he thought. One week...
A small chiming sound reached Lupin's ears and he blinked; it was time. He reached into the pocket of his robes with his left hand and pulled a small flask from it. Very carefully he removed the cork and down the contents of the flask.
"Drinking on the job, are you?"
Lupin sat up sharply, which caused his broom to jerk; he nearly dropped the flask as he righted himself.
Tonks had flown up next to him; she had her robes on now and they were tightly wrapped around her; the wind rustled her purple hair.
"Uh, no," said Lupin quickly. "Just a...a restorative tonic. I've been...ill." He quickly shoved the empty flask back into his robes, grateful that it was dark and that Tonks couldn't see the reddening of his face and ears. He wasn't sure why he couldn't bring himself to just tell her the truth. Chances were she already knew; most everyone else who knew him did. Chances were, Sirius had told her. But somehow, he couldn't tell her. Especially not now, not when the weak moonlight nevertheless illuminated her pale skin like that.
"You did look a bit pale back at the house," Tonks commented. "You sure you should be out flying?"
"I'm fine," Lupin said stiffly. "I'm not ill anymore, just tired. In any case I promised Sirius."
"Right," said Tonks, seeming to understand that Lupin had no desire to discuss his physical condition with her. "Sirius is real fond of Harry, he talks about that kid all the time. What's he like, anyway?"
Lupin looked at her for a moment and considered. "Harry is...complicated. He's a tough young man, resilient. Smart, too, and very capable. He has tremendous talent, some of his skills are more advanced than most adult wizards. But he's been through a lot more than most, had to suffer quite a lot. It's been hard on him, having to live with those Muggles. I've never met them but I've heard enough to know they're terrible to him. They hate him for being a wizard, hate everything his being a wizard stands for."
Tonks shook her head. "Poor bloke. A right shame, that is, for Muggles to feel that way. Just as bad as pure-bloods who don't like Muggles, isn't it?"
Lupin nodded. "If there's one thing I've learned all too well, it's that prejudice doesn't discriminate."
Tonks laughed. "Good one. So I guess your parents are-"
"I'm a pure-blood, yes," said Lupin. "My parents are dead. And you're a half-blood. I have to admit this surprises me. The Black family...they weren't exactly shy in declaring their loathing of Muggles."
"Yeah, well," said Tonks, a dark look crossing her face, "they disowned my mum quick enough after she took up with my dad. A shame, really. Not because of the money-my mum could have cared less about that. But she and Sirius are close. Well, they were, anyway, before Sirius got sent to Azkaban. I think they're in touch again, but Mum says Sirius has changed a lot."
"Twelve years in Azkaban and two as a fugitive will do that," said Lupin sadly.
"Right," said Tonks. "Well, I'm just glad we're bringing Harry out of there and back to Sirius. Maybe that'll cheer him up a bit."
"Heads up!" Mad-Eye Moody swooped past them. "Coming up on Privet Drive. Let's circle a few times to make sure we're not spotted!"
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Moody. Paranoid bugger. I'm freezing, aren't you? We can't keep circling up here or those Muggles'll come home and catch us."
"It's all clear, Alastor!" Lupin called. "We can land, I think!"
"Well, if you say so," grumbled Moody. Lupin raised his right arm and pointed down, indicating a stretch of row-houses that lined a wide, very neat lane. The houses all looked the same from the outside; each small backyard was perfectly manicured, the grass freshly mowed, but the lawns had a parched, brown look to them.
"There's Number Four!" Lupin called, pointing at a house below whose backyard contained a very ostentatious looking gazebo.
Lupin dived and then circled round before landing gently on the dry, brown grass in the back yard of Number Four Privet Drive. He alighted from his broom just as Tonks landed next to him; it was a hard, clumsy landing that caused her to fall right off her broom.
She gave a grunt and Lupin reached out and once again caught her; his arms wrapped round her waist and lifted her back up. He felt heat rise on the back of his neck now as his hands took note of her sleekly muscled back.
"Thanks," she said, blushing to the roots of her purple hair, as she stood up and brushed off her robes. She looked up at him and smiled shyly. Then, she looked down at his hands. Then back up at him.
"Uh, Remus," she said softly. "You can let go of me now." She bit her lip.
Lupin blinked and realized his hands were still on her waist; he withdrew them quickly and cleared his throat.
"Sorry," he said quickly, looking at the ground, feeling ridiculous as heat crept up his neck again.
"It's okay," she said. "Thanks for catching me again."
He looked at her and felt the heat on his neck reach his face.
"My pleasure," he said, suddenly finding it very hard to talk. Good lord, what is the matter with me? he thought in horror. He blinked and turned away from her and cleared his throat again, forcing his mind back to the task at hand.
"All here?" he hissed, his eyes scanning the darkened street, and then his companions. He counted and saw they were indeed all there.
"We go through the back door, into the kitchen," Lupin instructed. "And keep quiet. We don't want to scare Harry and we don't want to alert any neighbors."
Everyone nodded and Lupin crept quietly toward the back door. He pulled his wand from his robes and whispered, "Alohomora."
The lock clicked softly and Lupin turned the doorknob. The door opened with a small creak. Lupin moved into the kitchen and made room for the seven other witches and wizards to follow.
One by one they crowded into the kitchen. The house was not especially large-it was a middle-sized house and the Dursleys were clearly a middle- class family, but Lupin could see at once by the decor that they probably lived just slightly above their means. The appliances-what little he knew of Muggle appliances-were all shiny and very new looking. And these Muggles also appeared to be obsessive about cleanliness: Lupin couldn't remember ever seeing a room so spotless, so completely free of even a trace of dust.
He started toward the living room-
CRASH! Lupin whirled around, wand at the ready, to see Nymphadora Tonks bent down over the broken pieces of a ceramic plate.
"Tonks!" Kingsley Shacklebolt hissed, shaking his head. "Watch what you're doing!"
"Sorry!" she whispered miserably, gathering up the pieces of shattered plate.
"So much for keeping quiet," Moody grumbled irritably.
"Let me help, dear," said Hestia Jones quickly, kneeling down beside Tonks and taking the broken plate pieces from her. Lupin watched as Tonks stood up and bit her lip. He knew he ought to feel irritated with her for her clumsiness, but he couldn't help but smile. She met his eyes and smiled back, very sheepishly.
"Quiet!" Moody hissed suddenly. "Sounds like he knows we're here."
A creak came from upstairs, and then another. Footsteps. Lupin nodded to Moody, who headed through the kitchen, past the living room and dining room and into the front hallway, where stood a staircase. A weak hall-light illuminated the upstairs landing. Moody came to an abrupt halt at the foot of the stairs just as Harry Potter appeared at the top of the landing, his wand out, looking very frightened.
"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out, " Moody snapped.
Harry didn't lower his wand, but said instead, "Professor Moody?"
"I don't know so much about 'Professor,'" said Moody. "Never got round to much teaching. Come on down here, we want to see you properly."
Harry didn't move; Lupin didn't blame him. Harry's only other experience with Moody had almost killed him; the Moody Harry knew last term had been an impostor.
"It's all right, Harry," said Lupin, taking a step forward, hoping to reassure him. "We've come to take you away."
"Professor Lupin?" Harry asked, his voice a mixture of fear and relief. "Is that you?"
"Why are we all standing round here in the dark?" Tonks muttered. She raised her wand and said "Lumos!" A small, bright point of light illuminated their faces, and Harry's.
Lupin swallowed. Harry looked as bad as Lupin had ever seen him. Dark circles, as livid as ugly bruises, were beneath his eyes. His black hair, already unkempt, was entirely disheveled and looked as though it hadn't been washed in a few days. Although he had grown several inches since Lupin had last seen him, Harry's new height only served to highlight how skinny, how underfed he looked. A rush of hot anger burned in Lupin's throat; when Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place Lupin would make sure Harry was fed a good meal.
"Oh, he looks just like I thought he would," said Tonks, grinning broadly at Harry. "Wotcher, Harry!"
Harry grinned weakly at her, and very soon the other witches and wizards were murmuring about him; Lupin hardly heard them talking until Moody jabbed him in the ribs.
"Are you sure it's him, Lupin?" Moody grunted. "Be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater disguised as him. We should ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought some Veritaserum?"
Lupin smiled and closed his eyes. Moody, ever vigilant about these things. But considering Moody's own experience with impostors, Lupin couldn't blame him.
"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" he asked.
"A stag," Harry said, his voice shaking just a bit.
"That's him, Mad-Eye," said Lupin firmly, and at last Harry started down the stairs, tucking his wand into the back pocket of his jeans.
"Don't put your wand there, boy!" Moody growled. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"
"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" Tonks asked, sounding very intrigued. Lupin found himself suppressing a smile.
"Never you mind," snapped Moody, glaring at Tonks, and then he turned back to Harry. "You just keep your wand out of your back pocket. Elementary wand safety...nobody bothers with it anymore..."
He turned and hobbled toward the kitchen. "And I saw that," he added, as Tonks rolled her eyes. Lupin put a hand over his lips to hide his grin, then looked at Harry.
"How are you, Harry?" Lupin asked, shaking Harry's hand.
"F-fine..." Harry muttered, staring at all the people round him. "I'm- you're really lucky the Dursleys are out."
"Lucky, ha!" said Tonks. "It was me that lured them out of the way. Called them AND 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 so they think."
Harry gave a small chuckle at this.
"But we're leaving soon, right?" he said, addressing Lupin. He had the look of someone who couldn't wait to be anywhere else other than where he was.
"Almost at once," said Lupin, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We're just waiting for the all-clear."
"Where are we going?" Harry asked. "The Burrow?"
Lupin shook his head. "Not the Burrow, no," he said, guiding Harry toward the kitchen, where the others had fallen back and were waiting, no doubt, to meet him. "It's too risky," Lupin went on. "We've set up headquarters somewhere undetectable. It took some doing..."
They reached the kitchen and Lupin made the introductions. Moody had not been entirely wrong in his assessment of everyone's attitude toward Harry; they were all a bit star-struck by him.
"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," Lupin said wryly.
"Yeah, well, the more the better," said Moody. "We're your guard, Potter."
"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," Lupin explained. "Should be about fifteen minutes."
"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles," Tonks commented, running her finger along the spotless white marble countertop. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I s'pose it varies, just like with wizards?"
"Uh, yeah," said Harry, then he turned to Lupin, and he began to talk very fast. "Look, what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol-"
"Shut up!" Moody hissed, even as the others in the room-Lupin excluded- gasped and hissed themselves. "We're not discussing that here, it's too risky." Moody's magical eye had begun to spin but now it seemed to be fixed on the ceiling.
"Dammit," Moody muttered. "Bloody thing keeps sticking-ever since that scum wore it." He reached up and pulled the eye right from its socket; the sound as it came out was rather like that of trainers squelching in a pit of mud. Tonks screwed up her face.
"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" she said.
"Fetch me a glass of water, would you, Harry?"
Harry said nothing, only nodded, and moved to the sink where he grabbed a clean water glass and filled it. The others were still gaping at him; Lupin shook his head slightly when he saw that Harry was starting to look a bit annoyed by their staring.
"Cheers," said Moody, dropping the eye into the water, swishing it round a bit, and then popping it back into place. Tonks grimaced again. The eye began to spin frantically.
"That's better," said Moody. "I want 360 degrees visibility on the way back."
"How're we getting-wherever we're going?" Harry asked.
"Brooms," said Lupin. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, the Floo Network is being watched, and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey."
"Remus says you're a good flyer," said Kingsley.
Lupin looked at his watch. "He's excellent. Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry. We need to be ready to go when the signal comes."
"I'll come and help you," Tonks said eagerly, smiling at Lupin as she followed Harry out of the kitchen. Lupin felt a small smile curl his lips. He briefly wondered if it would be a good idea for Tonks to be the one helping Harry pack. She was more than likely to knock something else over.
Nobody moved out of the kitchen, nor did anyone speak, for several minutes. Lupin found himself checking his watch repeatedly even as his mind drifted, as he remembered how Tonks had stumbled into him in the back yard, how he had caught her, how his hands had discerned the curves and muscles of her back even through the thick jumper and heavy witch's robes.
He blinked and shook his head, then looked up to see Moody regarding him rather coolly with both eyes, the normal one and the magical one. Lupin forced a grin and looked down at the floor, wondering if the magical eye could see into his very thoughts. Moody certainly wouldn't approve of what Lupin was thinking at that moment, not when they were in the midst of such an important mission.
He shook his head again and forced himself to focus on the matter at hand instead on Tonks and her purple hair. He searched the countertop for a piece of paper, found one, and then picked up a plastic pen and began to write a note to Harry's aunt and uncle. A part of him knew these Muggles wouldn't care much to see Harry gone, but Dumbledore had insisted on it. As Lupin scribbled he glanced up to see Kingsley and Sturgis Podmore gawking at a strange, rectangular, boxy looking appliance, while Hestia Jones rummaged through one of the drawers, picking up kitchen tools and giggling as she replaced them neatly.
As Lupin stuffed the note into a nearby envelope Harry and Tonks reappeared, Harry carrying his snowy owl's cage and Tonks levitating Harry's trunk.
"Excellent," said Lupin, smiling at Tonks, who smiled back. It was only then that Lupin saw her hair was no longer purple but bright, bubble-gum pink. He started to ask her just why she had been fooling around with her hair when she was supposed to have been helping Harry pack, but decided now was not the time to discuss it; in any case he didn't feel right giving her a dressing down in front of everyone. He turned his attention to Harry.
"We've got about a minute, I think," Lupin said. "We should head out back to get ready. Harry, I've left a note telling your aunt and uncle not to worry-"
"They won't," interrupted Harry dully.
"That you're safe-"
"That'll just depress them," Harry interjected.
"-and that you'll see them next summer."
"Do I have to?" Harry asked, looking miserable. Lupin smiled at him sadly, but then Moody pulled Harry aside.
"Time to Disillusion you," he grunted.
"Time to do what?" Harry asked, looking nervous.
"Disillusionment Charm," said Moody. "Lupin tells me you have an Invisibility Cloak but that won't stay on you while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go-Disillusion!"
Moody rapped Harry sharply on the head with his wand, and in the next instant Harry faded from sight; it was only when Harry moved that Lupin could see an outline of Harry's body. Like a chameleon, Harry took on the appearance of whatever surface or thing he stood close to.
"Nice one, Mad-Eye," said Tonks, impressed.
"Come on," said Moody, and one by one they filed outside.
"Night's cleared up," said Moody. "Could have used a bit more cloud cover."
Lupin stared up at the waxing moon and swallowed hard. Moody had begun issuing instructions about their flight pattern, which would be decidedly more regimented now that Harry was with them. Lupin felt a hollow ache in the pit of his stomach as he stared up at the thing he feared most.
"-if one of us is killed-" Moody was saying. Lupin blinked and turned his attention away from the moon and back at Moody and Harry.
"Is that likely?" Harry asked fearfully. But Moody ignored him.
"-the others just 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," Tonks said dryly. "He'll think we're not taking this seriously." She strapped Harry's trunk and the owl's cage to a harness hanging from her broom.
"I'm just telling the boy the plan," Moody growled. "Our job's to deliver him safely to headquarters and if we die in the attempt-"
"No one's going to die," said Kingsley, in a voice that indicated Moody had better shut up about the whole subject of death, as it was clearly making Harry quite nervous. Moody grunted and got the hint.
Lupin grinned and then a flash of red in the distance caught his eye.
"Mount your brooms; that's the first signal!" he hissed, pointing in the direction of the red sparks.
Immediately everyone swung their legs over their brooms; Tonks got hers tangled up in her robes, gave a frustrated grunt, then disentangled herself. Harry, meanwhile, gripped the handle of his broom-a Firebolt racing broom-eagerly. Lupin could only imagine what Harry must be feeling right then, how badly he'd want to be flying, after being stranded on the ground for so long.
A flash of green sparks went up in the distance. "Second signal," Lupin called. "Let's go!"
He kicked off hard from the ground, and as one, the Advance Guard and Harry Potter rose silently into the air and sped off into the cool night.
________________________________________________________________________
Author's Note: A HUGE extra disclaimer for me borrowing J.K.Rowling's dialogue from Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. Nearly all of the dialogue once Harry shows up is hers, but for my occasional tweaking. So, to all Ms. Rowling's lawyers, don't sue me!
Chapter Two: Rescuing Harry
The night air did indeed turn chill as Lupin and the rest of the Advance Guard made their way to Little Whinging. Lupin pulled his robes more tightly around his shoulders, but it did little to warm him. He had always been more susceptible to extremes in temperature, ever since becoming afflicted. His eyes drifted across the cloudy sky. One week from now, it would happen again, he thought. One week...
A small chiming sound reached Lupin's ears and he blinked; it was time. He reached into the pocket of his robes with his left hand and pulled a small flask from it. Very carefully he removed the cork and down the contents of the flask.
"Drinking on the job, are you?"
Lupin sat up sharply, which caused his broom to jerk; he nearly dropped the flask as he righted himself.
Tonks had flown up next to him; she had her robes on now and they were tightly wrapped around her; the wind rustled her purple hair.
"Uh, no," said Lupin quickly. "Just a...a restorative tonic. I've been...ill." He quickly shoved the empty flask back into his robes, grateful that it was dark and that Tonks couldn't see the reddening of his face and ears. He wasn't sure why he couldn't bring himself to just tell her the truth. Chances were she already knew; most everyone else who knew him did. Chances were, Sirius had told her. But somehow, he couldn't tell her. Especially not now, not when the weak moonlight nevertheless illuminated her pale skin like that.
"You did look a bit pale back at the house," Tonks commented. "You sure you should be out flying?"
"I'm fine," Lupin said stiffly. "I'm not ill anymore, just tired. In any case I promised Sirius."
"Right," said Tonks, seeming to understand that Lupin had no desire to discuss his physical condition with her. "Sirius is real fond of Harry, he talks about that kid all the time. What's he like, anyway?"
Lupin looked at her for a moment and considered. "Harry is...complicated. He's a tough young man, resilient. Smart, too, and very capable. He has tremendous talent, some of his skills are more advanced than most adult wizards. But he's been through a lot more than most, had to suffer quite a lot. It's been hard on him, having to live with those Muggles. I've never met them but I've heard enough to know they're terrible to him. They hate him for being a wizard, hate everything his being a wizard stands for."
Tonks shook her head. "Poor bloke. A right shame, that is, for Muggles to feel that way. Just as bad as pure-bloods who don't like Muggles, isn't it?"
Lupin nodded. "If there's one thing I've learned all too well, it's that prejudice doesn't discriminate."
Tonks laughed. "Good one. So I guess your parents are-"
"I'm a pure-blood, yes," said Lupin. "My parents are dead. And you're a half-blood. I have to admit this surprises me. The Black family...they weren't exactly shy in declaring their loathing of Muggles."
"Yeah, well," said Tonks, a dark look crossing her face, "they disowned my mum quick enough after she took up with my dad. A shame, really. Not because of the money-my mum could have cared less about that. But she and Sirius are close. Well, they were, anyway, before Sirius got sent to Azkaban. I think they're in touch again, but Mum says Sirius has changed a lot."
"Twelve years in Azkaban and two as a fugitive will do that," said Lupin sadly.
"Right," said Tonks. "Well, I'm just glad we're bringing Harry out of there and back to Sirius. Maybe that'll cheer him up a bit."
"Heads up!" Mad-Eye Moody swooped past them. "Coming up on Privet Drive. Let's circle a few times to make sure we're not spotted!"
Tonks rolled her eyes. "Moody. Paranoid bugger. I'm freezing, aren't you? We can't keep circling up here or those Muggles'll come home and catch us."
"It's all clear, Alastor!" Lupin called. "We can land, I think!"
"Well, if you say so," grumbled Moody. Lupin raised his right arm and pointed down, indicating a stretch of row-houses that lined a wide, very neat lane. The houses all looked the same from the outside; each small backyard was perfectly manicured, the grass freshly mowed, but the lawns had a parched, brown look to them.
"There's Number Four!" Lupin called, pointing at a house below whose backyard contained a very ostentatious looking gazebo.
Lupin dived and then circled round before landing gently on the dry, brown grass in the back yard of Number Four Privet Drive. He alighted from his broom just as Tonks landed next to him; it was a hard, clumsy landing that caused her to fall right off her broom.
She gave a grunt and Lupin reached out and once again caught her; his arms wrapped round her waist and lifted her back up. He felt heat rise on the back of his neck now as his hands took note of her sleekly muscled back.
"Thanks," she said, blushing to the roots of her purple hair, as she stood up and brushed off her robes. She looked up at him and smiled shyly. Then, she looked down at his hands. Then back up at him.
"Uh, Remus," she said softly. "You can let go of me now." She bit her lip.
Lupin blinked and realized his hands were still on her waist; he withdrew them quickly and cleared his throat.
"Sorry," he said quickly, looking at the ground, feeling ridiculous as heat crept up his neck again.
"It's okay," she said. "Thanks for catching me again."
He looked at her and felt the heat on his neck reach his face.
"My pleasure," he said, suddenly finding it very hard to talk. Good lord, what is the matter with me? he thought in horror. He blinked and turned away from her and cleared his throat again, forcing his mind back to the task at hand.
"All here?" he hissed, his eyes scanning the darkened street, and then his companions. He counted and saw they were indeed all there.
"We go through the back door, into the kitchen," Lupin instructed. "And keep quiet. We don't want to scare Harry and we don't want to alert any neighbors."
Everyone nodded and Lupin crept quietly toward the back door. He pulled his wand from his robes and whispered, "Alohomora."
The lock clicked softly and Lupin turned the doorknob. The door opened with a small creak. Lupin moved into the kitchen and made room for the seven other witches and wizards to follow.
One by one they crowded into the kitchen. The house was not especially large-it was a middle-sized house and the Dursleys were clearly a middle- class family, but Lupin could see at once by the decor that they probably lived just slightly above their means. The appliances-what little he knew of Muggle appliances-were all shiny and very new looking. And these Muggles also appeared to be obsessive about cleanliness: Lupin couldn't remember ever seeing a room so spotless, so completely free of even a trace of dust.
He started toward the living room-
CRASH! Lupin whirled around, wand at the ready, to see Nymphadora Tonks bent down over the broken pieces of a ceramic plate.
"Tonks!" Kingsley Shacklebolt hissed, shaking his head. "Watch what you're doing!"
"Sorry!" she whispered miserably, gathering up the pieces of shattered plate.
"So much for keeping quiet," Moody grumbled irritably.
"Let me help, dear," said Hestia Jones quickly, kneeling down beside Tonks and taking the broken plate pieces from her. Lupin watched as Tonks stood up and bit her lip. He knew he ought to feel irritated with her for her clumsiness, but he couldn't help but smile. She met his eyes and smiled back, very sheepishly.
"Quiet!" Moody hissed suddenly. "Sounds like he knows we're here."
A creak came from upstairs, and then another. Footsteps. Lupin nodded to Moody, who headed through the kitchen, past the living room and dining room and into the front hallway, where stood a staircase. A weak hall-light illuminated the upstairs landing. Moody came to an abrupt halt at the foot of the stairs just as Harry Potter appeared at the top of the landing, his wand out, looking very frightened.
"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out, " Moody snapped.
Harry didn't lower his wand, but said instead, "Professor Moody?"
"I don't know so much about 'Professor,'" said Moody. "Never got round to much teaching. Come on down here, we want to see you properly."
Harry didn't move; Lupin didn't blame him. Harry's only other experience with Moody had almost killed him; the Moody Harry knew last term had been an impostor.
"It's all right, Harry," said Lupin, taking a step forward, hoping to reassure him. "We've come to take you away."
"Professor Lupin?" Harry asked, his voice a mixture of fear and relief. "Is that you?"
"Why are we all standing round here in the dark?" Tonks muttered. She raised her wand and said "Lumos!" A small, bright point of light illuminated their faces, and Harry's.
Lupin swallowed. Harry looked as bad as Lupin had ever seen him. Dark circles, as livid as ugly bruises, were beneath his eyes. His black hair, already unkempt, was entirely disheveled and looked as though it hadn't been washed in a few days. Although he had grown several inches since Lupin had last seen him, Harry's new height only served to highlight how skinny, how underfed he looked. A rush of hot anger burned in Lupin's throat; when Harry arrived at Grimmauld Place Lupin would make sure Harry was fed a good meal.
"Oh, he looks just like I thought he would," said Tonks, grinning broadly at Harry. "Wotcher, Harry!"
Harry grinned weakly at her, and very soon the other witches and wizards were murmuring about him; Lupin hardly heard them talking until Moody jabbed him in the ribs.
"Are you sure it's him, Lupin?" Moody grunted. "Be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater disguised as him. We should ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought some Veritaserum?"
Lupin smiled and closed his eyes. Moody, ever vigilant about these things. But considering Moody's own experience with impostors, Lupin couldn't blame him.
"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" he asked.
"A stag," Harry said, his voice shaking just a bit.
"That's him, Mad-Eye," said Lupin firmly, and at last Harry started down the stairs, tucking his wand into the back pocket of his jeans.
"Don't put your wand there, boy!" Moody growled. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"
"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" Tonks asked, sounding very intrigued. Lupin found himself suppressing a smile.
"Never you mind," snapped Moody, glaring at Tonks, and then he turned back to Harry. "You just keep your wand out of your back pocket. Elementary wand safety...nobody bothers with it anymore..."
He turned and hobbled toward the kitchen. "And I saw that," he added, as Tonks rolled her eyes. Lupin put a hand over his lips to hide his grin, then looked at Harry.
"How are you, Harry?" Lupin asked, shaking Harry's hand.
"F-fine..." Harry muttered, staring at all the people round him. "I'm- you're really lucky the Dursleys are out."
"Lucky, ha!" said Tonks. "It was me that lured them out of the way. Called them AND 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 so they think."
Harry gave a small chuckle at this.
"But we're leaving soon, right?" he said, addressing Lupin. He had the look of someone who couldn't wait to be anywhere else other than where he was.
"Almost at once," said Lupin, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "We're just waiting for the all-clear."
"Where are we going?" Harry asked. "The Burrow?"
Lupin shook his head. "Not the Burrow, no," he said, guiding Harry toward the kitchen, where the others had fallen back and were waiting, no doubt, to meet him. "It's too risky," Lupin went on. "We've set up headquarters somewhere undetectable. It took some doing..."
They reached the kitchen and Lupin made the introductions. Moody had not been entirely wrong in his assessment of everyone's attitude toward Harry; they were all a bit star-struck by him.
"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," Lupin said wryly.
"Yeah, well, the more the better," said Moody. "We're your guard, Potter."
"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off," Lupin explained. "Should be about fifteen minutes."
"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles," Tonks commented, running her finger along the spotless white marble countertop. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I s'pose it varies, just like with wizards?"
"Uh, yeah," said Harry, then he turned to Lupin, and he began to talk very fast. "Look, what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol-"
"Shut up!" Moody hissed, even as the others in the room-Lupin excluded- gasped and hissed themselves. "We're not discussing that here, it's too risky." Moody's magical eye had begun to spin but now it seemed to be fixed on the ceiling.
"Dammit," Moody muttered. "Bloody thing keeps sticking-ever since that scum wore it." He reached up and pulled the eye right from its socket; the sound as it came out was rather like that of trainers squelching in a pit of mud. Tonks screwed up her face.
"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" she said.
"Fetch me a glass of water, would you, Harry?"
Harry said nothing, only nodded, and moved to the sink where he grabbed a clean water glass and filled it. The others were still gaping at him; Lupin shook his head slightly when he saw that Harry was starting to look a bit annoyed by their staring.
"Cheers," said Moody, dropping the eye into the water, swishing it round a bit, and then popping it back into place. Tonks grimaced again. The eye began to spin frantically.
"That's better," said Moody. "I want 360 degrees visibility on the way back."
"How're we getting-wherever we're going?" Harry asked.
"Brooms," said Lupin. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, the Floo Network is being watched, and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey."
"Remus says you're a good flyer," said Kingsley.
Lupin looked at his watch. "He's excellent. Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Harry. We need to be ready to go when the signal comes."
"I'll come and help you," Tonks said eagerly, smiling at Lupin as she followed Harry out of the kitchen. Lupin felt a small smile curl his lips. He briefly wondered if it would be a good idea for Tonks to be the one helping Harry pack. She was more than likely to knock something else over.
Nobody moved out of the kitchen, nor did anyone speak, for several minutes. Lupin found himself checking his watch repeatedly even as his mind drifted, as he remembered how Tonks had stumbled into him in the back yard, how he had caught her, how his hands had discerned the curves and muscles of her back even through the thick jumper and heavy witch's robes.
He blinked and shook his head, then looked up to see Moody regarding him rather coolly with both eyes, the normal one and the magical one. Lupin forced a grin and looked down at the floor, wondering if the magical eye could see into his very thoughts. Moody certainly wouldn't approve of what Lupin was thinking at that moment, not when they were in the midst of such an important mission.
He shook his head again and forced himself to focus on the matter at hand instead on Tonks and her purple hair. He searched the countertop for a piece of paper, found one, and then picked up a plastic pen and began to write a note to Harry's aunt and uncle. A part of him knew these Muggles wouldn't care much to see Harry gone, but Dumbledore had insisted on it. As Lupin scribbled he glanced up to see Kingsley and Sturgis Podmore gawking at a strange, rectangular, boxy looking appliance, while Hestia Jones rummaged through one of the drawers, picking up kitchen tools and giggling as she replaced them neatly.
As Lupin stuffed the note into a nearby envelope Harry and Tonks reappeared, Harry carrying his snowy owl's cage and Tonks levitating Harry's trunk.
"Excellent," said Lupin, smiling at Tonks, who smiled back. It was only then that Lupin saw her hair was no longer purple but bright, bubble-gum pink. He started to ask her just why she had been fooling around with her hair when she was supposed to have been helping Harry pack, but decided now was not the time to discuss it; in any case he didn't feel right giving her a dressing down in front of everyone. He turned his attention to Harry.
"We've got about a minute, I think," Lupin said. "We should head out back to get ready. Harry, I've left a note telling your aunt and uncle not to worry-"
"They won't," interrupted Harry dully.
"That you're safe-"
"That'll just depress them," Harry interjected.
"-and that you'll see them next summer."
"Do I have to?" Harry asked, looking miserable. Lupin smiled at him sadly, but then Moody pulled Harry aside.
"Time to Disillusion you," he grunted.
"Time to do what?" Harry asked, looking nervous.
"Disillusionment Charm," said Moody. "Lupin tells me you have an Invisibility Cloak but that won't stay on you while we're flying; this'll disguise you better. Here you go-Disillusion!"
Moody rapped Harry sharply on the head with his wand, and in the next instant Harry faded from sight; it was only when Harry moved that Lupin could see an outline of Harry's body. Like a chameleon, Harry took on the appearance of whatever surface or thing he stood close to.
"Nice one, Mad-Eye," said Tonks, impressed.
"Come on," said Moody, and one by one they filed outside.
"Night's cleared up," said Moody. "Could have used a bit more cloud cover."
Lupin stared up at the waxing moon and swallowed hard. Moody had begun issuing instructions about their flight pattern, which would be decidedly more regimented now that Harry was with them. Lupin felt a hollow ache in the pit of his stomach as he stared up at the thing he feared most.
"-if one of us is killed-" Moody was saying. Lupin blinked and turned his attention away from the moon and back at Moody and Harry.
"Is that likely?" Harry asked fearfully. But Moody ignored him.
"-the others just 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," Tonks said dryly. "He'll think we're not taking this seriously." She strapped Harry's trunk and the owl's cage to a harness hanging from her broom.
"I'm just telling the boy the plan," Moody growled. "Our job's to deliver him safely to headquarters and if we die in the attempt-"
"No one's going to die," said Kingsley, in a voice that indicated Moody had better shut up about the whole subject of death, as it was clearly making Harry quite nervous. Moody grunted and got the hint.
Lupin grinned and then a flash of red in the distance caught his eye.
"Mount your brooms; that's the first signal!" he hissed, pointing in the direction of the red sparks.
Immediately everyone swung their legs over their brooms; Tonks got hers tangled up in her robes, gave a frustrated grunt, then disentangled herself. Harry, meanwhile, gripped the handle of his broom-a Firebolt racing broom-eagerly. Lupin could only imagine what Harry must be feeling right then, how badly he'd want to be flying, after being stranded on the ground for so long.
A flash of green sparks went up in the distance. "Second signal," Lupin called. "Let's go!"
He kicked off hard from the ground, and as one, the Advance Guard and Harry Potter rose silently into the air and sped off into the cool night.
________________________________________________________________________
Author's Note: A HUGE extra disclaimer for me borrowing J.K.Rowling's dialogue from Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. Nearly all of the dialogue once Harry shows up is hers, but for my occasional tweaking. So, to all Ms. Rowling's lawyers, don't sue me!