Chapter 02

• A Real Mess •

Downstairs a vase shattered, only adding to Harry's now visibly distressed state. He was near his door, wand in hand, trying his best to figure out what he was going to do. He turned to Tonks again, his jaw tightened and a sense of foreboding filling him.

"You're joking right?" Harry asked in a strangled voice, staring apprehensively at the window, that, moments ago Tonks had dropped his precious Firebolt out of while simultaneously trying to mount it. Then, of course, to compound matters even more, several Death Eaters had meandered back outside and were waiting around to insure that Harry didn't get outside without someone seeing.

Tonks made a motion as if about to summon the broom back to her, but Harry quickly stopped her.

If Tonks had summoned the broom, either the sudden movement or the bushes rustling would have attracted far more attention than they needed at the moment. In all likelihood, the broom wouldn't make it to within ten feet of them before they were attacked.

So Tonks had come up with an idea. It didn't matter if it the best idea at the moment, but it was by far the most insane idea that anyone could have come up with other than confronting the Death Eaters by themselves. She wanted to jump, with Harry holding on. Then, at the same time, summon the broom to her, mount it and fly away.

From her determined expression Harry could see that the idea was not a joke as he'd hoped. She truly intended on doing it. Harry'd fallen out the window for and barely a second had passed before he'd struck the ground, if she even though she could do this, she was… "You're nutters." He whispered fiercely, staring at her amazed. "You're totally nutters." He whispered again, hoping that the ruckus downstairs would keep the Death Eaters at bay for a minute or two.

"Seriously Tonks, you just dropped the broom trying to mount it, and now you want to try and mount it in mid air? You think you can do that?"

"Oh and you could do better I'm sure!" Tonks snapped angrily, but still determined to do it.

Downstairs something else was destroyed and Harry whirled from Tonks, making sure, once again, his door was firmly closed and locked for the third time. He looked down at his invisibility cloak, which was still gripped tightly in his hands. He wasn't quite sure what to do now, he could stay with Tonks and try to do something that was completely insane or he could hide and hope they'd think he wasn't around. Unfortunately, loud footfalls clearly told that nearly a dozen Death Eaters were rushing throughout the house, tearing apart anything that stood in the way of their mission.

His mind finally came to a conclusion when he heard Vernon's gruff voice reach a crescendo down below before cutting off abruptly. In the few seconds he spoke Harry distinctly heard his name and his bedroom location. Crestfallen Harry turned back to Tonks, hoping that she had another better idea. He couldn't think of anything more to do and he was moving well into total panic.

Spread across her face Harry could see a hesitant look. "Please," she begged softly. "You do trust me, don't you?"

There was a lot more to the question than appeared at first glance, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out what it was. Harry could feel some deep-seated emotions, the answer really meant a lot to her although he couldn't understand exactly why. Her eyes told him that to her it was far more than just a statement of trust. Not many people trusted her it seemed, mostly due to her clumsy and slightly naïve nature. And even though he hadn't noticed it yet, she was hurt because of it.

After a hesitant three seconds Harry came to decide what he was going to do. "Yes. I trust you. But it's just… you have to understand, this isn't something easy for me." With that, he tucked his wand into his belt and offered her his free hand, using his other to stuff his jacket with his invisibility cloak. He noticed that his jacket had already gotten wet from the moisture in the air, but didn't think much about it, at least it'd offer him some protection.

Tonks, satisfied with his answer, wrapped the young wizards arms tightly around her waist. He could feel her breath increase as she paused momentarily to gather her wits. Then, with an unusual display of grace, she dove out the window, taking him with her. Harry began to reconsider his decision immediately after she sprang into the air. He had a brief vision of the sky, but he pulled himself tightly to Tonks, hoping for the best.

Somehow, a miracle happened and she pulled it off. Barely out of the window, she had his broom between her legs and a good grip on its polished handle. Harry didn't even see her summon it, though he had been far more concerned about the ground at the time. Pulling the broom up took a bit longer with the weight of an extra person; they nearly plowed into the bushes before the broom gathered enough momentum to pull out of their fall. Even then she jerked up so violently that Harry's stomach twisted in a knot. His blood started pumping like when he was in Quidditch matches, only it was even more concentrated.

The moment after the rush, and just prior to the Death Eaters spotting them Harry felt better than he ever had before. It was more than just a rush; it was almost like pure bliss.

Then the Death Eaters began yelling.

The broom twisted sharply, changing its course dramatically with neck jarring effects. Harry could do nothing but hold on to Tonks as tightly as possible; she was in charge now and seemed to be a bit unused to the Firebolt's sensitive steering. He'd never flown with someone else flying pilot and it was a new experience, he felt very conscious about how she was flying his broom. She flew down Privet Drive as if the devil himself was after them. Which, in a way, he was. She popped over a low-lying hedge and into the yard of a house Harry was all too familiar with.

Twin jets of magical energy lanced past by them on their right side, striking one of the trees in the front yard and instantly starting a blaze. Tonks leaned into the broom, egging it to higher speeds. Harry dared to look back and saw that a Death Eater was already pursuing them on broomstick. The Death Eater's broom would normally be no match for Harry's Firebolt, but they were riding tandem while the Death eater had no extra weight to slow him down. Out of the blue, one of Mrs. Figg's crazy cats jumped out of the blazing tree, hissing and spitting in its terror. The hapless creature struck the perusing wizard right in the face, sending both careening out of control. There was a spurt of blood and the cat spun sharply with the impact and lay motionless on the ground. The cat had left his mark though. Slowing down and clutching his right eye, the Death Eater's enraged cries sent shivers down Harry's spine. Before he could turn back the wind caught his glasses and whipped them off of his head, not even giving him a chance to grab for them. Harry cursed himself for not wearing the little glasses strings Aunt Petunia had gotten him because he thought it made him look foolish.

The broom twisted sharply again, swinging nearly 90 degrees to the left, directly into a neighbor's back yard. The fence, which had been strangely opened, swung closed from the blast of wind as they passed it. The brickwork of the house flashed clearly in front of Harry, scant inches from his face.

The masonry was gone in a blink of an eye, replaced by a blurry garden of some sort. The broom pulled into a climb immediately. As they past the upper part of a shed it blew up under them, helping their ascension even more, but tearing some of Harry's pants away and scorching the soles of his trainers.

The climb increased until Harry felt as if he might roll backwards and fall to the ground. He didn't dare look back again in fear of what he might see, he simply clung to Tonks tightly and squeezed his eyes shut. Better for death to be a surprise, than to see it coming.

Reversing the direction completely Harry felt gravity shove them back down towards the broomstick as they went into a dive. Harry's stomach knotted again, but he didn't feel it, his adrenaline had started pumping so fast that nothing else mattered, just the ride of his lifetime. Something below them moved into their way. Tonks whipped quickly left then right, causing Harry's eyes to involuntarily open and focus back onto what was happening.

He could see Tonks' shoulder rise, and one hand loosening itself from the broom, grabbing the wand that was tucked away beneath her robes. He heard her start to say something but a crack of thunder kept it from being heard. Harry, blinking furiously at the sudden illumination, glanced skyward as best he could, even though he couldn't see anything, and wondered where the thunder had come from. It may have rained a great deal lately, but there was very little in the way of thunder or lightning. A prickly feeling surged across Harry's skin making his hair stand on end, as if the very air were poking him everywhere softly.

Below them Harry noted that whatever it was that had been in their path was now gone, they were however uncomfortably close to the ground and moving extremely fast. Tonks was able to pull out of the dive, but it was far closer to the ground than Harry felt happy with when he wasn't the one that was flying. The blades of grass skimmed across his pant legs even though they'd been tucked up as closely to the broom as he could hold them. The dew from the grass thoroughly soaked his burnt and shredded jeans, making them even colder than they had already been.

A bright yellow curse raced past them on one side; moments after Tonks had adjusted their course yet again. It stuck a tree, throwing flames and chunks of bark for several yards in every direction. Harry only saw the extent of the damage in the brief moment they past the tree, but what he could see reminded him strongly of when Dudley had gotten a hold of a firework called an M-80 and strapped it to on of the larger trees in a nearby park. Harry'd gotten blamed for it and eventually the tree had died because of the scar.

They were currently rampaging through someone's front yard, at least as far as Harry could tell. Things were hard to see without his glasses and at the speed they were moving he had only a fraction of a second to see and identify things.

Tonks pulled up sharply, avoiding a long row of shrubberies that acted as a fence to the yard. On the other side of the bush she stopped the broom so suddenly that Harry started to get sick again. He could feel his stomach jumping to his throat and was glad he hadn't eaten at all lately.

Two more Death Eaters passed by them on either side at tremendous speeds, not having a broom that could handle such a sudden stop. Harry watched Tonks as she fired off two hexes in quick succession. In one smooth motion, she slid her wand into its hidden sheath and was off again quicker than Harry could blink.

The charge that had been building up in the air got even more concentrated and a burst of energy flowed through Harry. The world whitened into a sudden dazzling brightness, nothing at all was visible. It was like staring into the sun. At the same time his whole chest felt constricted and he had a hard time drawing a breath. The sound was even more incredible; it was like a huge explosion that rattled his bones and nearly deafened one ear.

"Y'alright?" She yelled back to him as they trimmed the rooftop of a nearby house.

"Yeah!" Harry yelled back into her ear, hoping she'd hear the rest. The lightning was frightening him, it was as if it was chasing them, or reacting to something they were doing. She seemed preoccupied and she pulled out her wand again, fumbling around with it. "But can you be a bit more careful? I think we lost all of them that were chasing us."

Whatever it was they were doing he wanted to figure it out so that they could keep from being struck.

The wind picked up, howling in their ears as they started to rise into the clouds and Harry could feel the charge again, waiting for something, some reason to discharge on them.

"Sure!" Tonks shouted into the wind. She also said something that was far too quiet for him to hear and at that instant Harry could feel a discharge again, just as before. Tonks proceeded to roll so hard to the left that Harry felt as if he were being thrown from the broom. The only reason he wasn't was because he kept his legs locked under the broom and his hands locked around Tonks.

A bright flash of light filled his whole field of vision yet again. Quickly the light was followed by an intense rumbling which shook him to his very bones. An explosion in his ears finished the moment off. He didn't even know hot to describe the sound, it was more than loud, it couldn't be considered deafening, it was too loud for that. His whole body reverberated from the sound, and it felt as if he'd been struck by a gigantic Bludger. It felt as if even some of her bones were at the point of breaking within him simply from the intensity of the noise.

When his sight returned he could see that they were flying down the center of a street, the center markings just to his right. Two dots of light were in the far off distance, but headed right towards them.

"Tonks!" Harry yelled, trying to make her see where they were going. He hoped it was working, he couldn't even hear himself speak after the explosion a few moments before. He wasn't sure if he'd ever hear again. He yelled again, only knowing that he was making some sort of sound because of the rumbling in his throat. It seemed she couldn't hear him either, and somehow was missing the fast approaching pair of headlights.

"Come on." He screamed as loud as he possibly could, then shook her violently. She seemed dead, No longer worried about waking Tonks, Harry let her go completely and took a grip on the broom, pulling it up and away from the car.

They missed it by a much more significant margin than they'd missed some other things in the earlier flight, but Harry had to wonder what the people in the car were thinking. They must've though it off to see two people coming at them much faster than they were traveling, and without a vehicle.

Before pulling into the clouds Harry glanced back towards his house, not thinking he'd even see it because of the distance they'd traveled, but he did see it. Not the house itself, but he could tell where it was, the Death Eaters seemed to have set it to flames before they left.

Pulling up harder Harry ascended into the clouds, hiding themselves from muggle view and any Death Eaters that might've been trying to catch them again. They were already going to be in enough trouble as it was. The daily prophet was going to have so much to write about him it wasn't even funny. When they'd reached a good height Harry tried to find a clear patch, away from the numerous clouds that were quickly soaking his clothing even more thoroughly. No open area was in site and Harry just decided to deal with the cold for now, because waking Tonks was far more important.

After some aggressive shaking he finally screamed into her ear, trying his best to waken her. He hoped she wasn't dead. He didn't know where he was going and they were moving fast, he probably wouldn't be able to easily find his way back home even if he wanted to. But at the moment that was probably the last place he wanted to be. By now it would be swarming with Aurors and reporters trying to find out what'd happened. The real thing Harry was afraid of was Vernon, especially if Tonks wasn't awake. Vernon would ring his neck before any one else could stop it, because he'd only see it as Harry's fault.

The house wasn't somewhere he wanted to return to anyway, there were far too many bad memories.

Seconds ticked by until several minutes had passed, Harry continually trying to awaken Tonks again and again. Finally, after he'd given up, her head shot up, striking Harry in his forehead.

She looked around, unsure about where she was, and it seemed to dawn on her after a while. "Harry…" she said, surprised when she turned to see his face. "We're… They… Flying. Harry! Where are we!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, taking a strong grip on the broom.

Harry gladly let go, his hands already chilled, and then rubbed his forehead softly. "Getting away from everyone that was chasing us, it wasn't much help when you blacked out." He yelled back, loud enough that she could hear. The wind was starting to get stronger and it was whistling around them loudly most of the time. "I don't know where exactly we are. We could go down and see, but we're not concealed to well and I think we'd loose the invisibility cloak if I tried to pull it out." He continued, hoping she could hear him.

The wind whipped them strongly again, shifting their course for the twelfth time. Harry had tried to prevent it from happening, but between trying to wake Tonks and trying to keep semi-warm he couldn't do it very well.

"… right… track… we're… order…" Harry heard Tonks reply.

He wasn't about to ask her to repeat it, because there was no way he could've heard it anyway. He saw her pull her wand from her belt and wave it. As she did he felt the air snap at him again, the air felt static just as it had before. Before he could warn Tonks the lightning had already struck. This time instead of it just being close, Harry could feel it hit them fully. He closed his eyes, but they were still filled with an overwhelming light.

Harry could only wish that by some miracle they would survive this time. The broom didn't seem to want to comply to Harry's wishes and started spinning wildly, not following any of the directions Tonks was giving it verbally. He could feel her moving about and he opened his eyes after the powerful concussion shock had ripped through his body. Though this time it was different, he felt completely disorientated and his whole body was numbed.

When he had regained some of his sense he saw Tonks trying furiously to stop the broom, she kicked out her feet behind her while at the same time grabbing the front of the broom (a built in stopping mechanism). It did not work, the broom just kept building speed until they were racing through the clouds so fast it felt as if they were breaking through layer after layer of paper thin ice.

Tonks rose her wand and Harry snapped it from her hand before she could use it, something about the magic was drawing the lightning to them and he didn't want to risk being hit again. It was a miracle they'd survived thus far. His movement seemed to push the broom even faster.

"Down!" Harry yelled, taking control from Tonks again and driving the broom towards the ground. Tonks lost it, just leaning into the broom until they were at a straight drop. The wind whipped around Harry's coat , trying to pull it from his arms. Squinting his eyes Harry waited and waited, trying to pull up exactly when he needed to, he'd learned the braking technique on his own accord while he'd spent some time practicing on his broom after he'd first got it. The ground appeared, coming at him faster than 200 miles an hour. At the last second Harry jerked the broom, pointing it straight towards the sky.

While the movement was violent, and difficult, especially with Tonks riding with him, Harry was able to perform the maneuver perfectly, coming to within inches of the rooftop when the broom finally stopped.

Gently, ever so gently, Harry dropped to the rooftop and took a second to breathe. Tonks dismounted the broom when she turned back to Harry the only thing he could see was a wide grin. "That was amazing. I've done some stupid things in my life… but that was a rush. I'll have to show you jacks sometime, I think you'll like it.

"What is it?" Harry asked, relieved that Tonks wasn't angry at him for doing something so stupid.

"It's… well you fly up and you… and you… disapparate… but… Oh. Never mind, you'll just have to watch someone do it, it's not something that sounds right when you explain it. You'll have to learn to apparate to do it though."

"I don't know how to do it. I can't learn either, you're not allowed to do it until you're legal aged." Harry said quietly, he'd wanted to learn a lot of things but he couldn't teach himself at school because Hermione wouldn't let him get away with it and at home if he used magic he wouldn't be able to go back to Hogwarts.

A chill ran up Harry's spine as a passing wind caught the tails of his jacket. It was cold, and they needed to get somewhere safe and soon.

"Hey!" A voice came from the front of the house. Harry and Tonks both looked down the roof to see a man staring up at them.

"Wotcher." Tonks called happily, waving and smiling down to the man. Harry shook his head, a muggle wouldn't be too happy with people on his roof. Mostly, because he wouldn't be able to make much sense of it.

"What are you doing up there!" The man demanded. Then, without even waiting for an answer he pulled out a small black thing from his cloak. "I'm going to call the police!" He yelled and then looked down, pushing something on the object.

Harry looked over to Tonks, a bit afraid, getting the police involved wasn't something he wanted to do. The guy was already talking to someone when Harry looked back. Tonks was staring down, interested. "What's that he's got?"

"Tonks. We'd better leave. We don't want muggle police involved do we?"

She shook her head briefly and then headed over to the other side of the roof, where the man couldn't see them. "We'd best get going then." She said, mounting the broom ahead of Harry again.

The wind had picked up, and no matter what Tonks did she couldn't keep them from being barraged by rain once it had started again. It was cold and Harry was soaked thoroughly in a matter of minutes. The coat, which had been wet, but provided some protection only made him colder as they rode through the air.

Harry shivered more than a few times, and started to tuck into himself to keep as warm as possible. Tonks on the other hand kept dipping down to just below the cloud line to try and get a bearing. He wasn't quite sure if she knew where she was going or not, but she was driving and he didn't have the slightest clue.

"It's cold." Harry whispered after a great deal of time had passed. A intense spasm filled his body, and he couldn't help but shiver for a extended period of time. He could not hear himself speak, or else he would've realized it was useless. The words he spoke were spoke were slurred so much that it was hard to tell he was speaking at all.

The spasm went away and for a moment Harry relaxed. It didn't last long, but the next time his mind filled with the spasms. It felt light, and then it started to warm up around him. Below him the lights looked beautiful and the warmth filled him even more. He watched the lights and as they flickered they enticed him. They were beautiful and the longer Harry watched the closer Harry wanted to be. Tonks wasn't going down though, and Harry was sure he wasn't going to be able to get closer anytime soon so he just decided to go alone, he didn't need Tonks with him anyway.

As he slipped from the broom Tonks, numb as she was, somehow was able to sense it. She did her best to stop him, holding his arms close to her. But even she couldn't hold tight enough in the wet weather and he began to slip. She yelled into the wind, as loudly as she could manage, hoping he'd wake up. She didn't realize that he wasn't falling asleep. Her actions where enough, however, and they snapped some part of Harry's mind back to reality.

"You know," he slurred, flipping his head over her shoulder, and talking into her ear, "you're really nice to me. Not like any of the other adults I know. Maybe you should make people take lessons or something." His voice was just loud enough, and he was just close enough that, above the wind Tonks heard his voice but not what he said.

She immediately identified what was happening to Harry and gripped him tighter. "You've got hypothermia." She said, hoping that he'd keep his right mind for a bit longer. She was trying to figure out where they were and she had no idea where it was they were truly headed. The spell she could use wasn't available because somehow the lightning was targeting them when magic was used.

The Auror training kicked in, she remembered being given information about such things as hypothermia. She knew she was more protected for several reasons, mainly that she had a completely unique body and it took far more stress than just cold to cause it to start shutting down. "We're going to stop. I'm not sure exactly where it is we're headed right now."

The words she spoke weren't any use to Harry, he couldn't really understand what it was that she was saying . His mind started drifting again, right back to the twinkling lights below them. They were getting close and the lights seemed even more magical as the closed the distance. Harry was enthralled by them and leaned over again, trying to get a better look.

This time Tonks did not feel him shift and only when the back end of the broom lost weight did Tonks figure out what was happening. She found herself almost sliding forwards off the broom too before she could compensate for the loss of Harry's weight. After taking control of the broom again she dove after Harry at tremendous speeds.

Harry on the other hand was in some sort of bliss, he was falling but he had no idea about his true plight. He found himself floating through the air, with the lights coming at him faster and faster. He didn't hear Tonks screaming after him, he didn't feel the chill of the wind whipping after him, trying to stop Tonks from reaching him.

Unfortunately they weren't far from the ground at all and Tonks had little time to get to Harry. She'd almost reached him when the ground became far too close to stay away from. Her numb hands reached out, trying to grip Harry, but the combination of slippery hands and a numbed grip only served to slow him slightly before he continued his plunge down. For a brief second he disappeared from Tonks' sight, but a splash followed, covering her in a layer of chilly water. She was unable to pull from the dive quick enough and soon followed Harry into the black water.

The explosion of water briefly incapacitated Tonks, but she was soon on top of the water again, struggling to stay afloat. "Harry!" She screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping he'd had enough senses to be able to swim. She searched the darkness for any sign of him at all, listening to hear a splash. There was nothing. Desperately she pulled her wand out again, worried that if she didn't try he'd die anyway.

Only a moment before she used her wand she felt something brush against her leg. Dropping her wand, and ridding herself of much of the clothing she was wearing she dove straight down, hands reaching about trying to locate Harry. She caught hold of a motionless hand and followed it down to the rest of the body. Then, wrapping herself around it, she pushed off the bottom of the pool with as much strength as she could.

It didn't take long for her to find the edge of the pool. With a surge of strength she was able to pull Harry from the pool and lay him out beside it. Her hands searched his neck for a pulse, but found nothing. He was not breathing either. Instinctively she searched for her wand, which was sitting at the bottom of the pool. When she could not find it her Auror training came up with alternatives. Leaning over him and concentrating the best she could she started to perform muggle CPR. Auror's were trained with every sort of medical abilities that were possible, magical or not. Tonks improvised just a bit, using the trick she'd been trying to teach Harry earlier in the day and pushing a little bit of magic into it every push of the hand and breath. It didn't take long for her to feel a pulse again, faint and slow, but still a pulse. She leaned him to his side as he coughed up the water he'd swallowed. His eyes stayed closed as Tonks hugged him, thankful that he had lived.

A faint sound of breathing could be heard as Tonks whispered to him that he'd be alright. Then, gently laying him back down she looked around, trying to determine where they were. She needed to get him inside and warm him up quickly or her efforts would be for nothing.

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