A/N: First off, let me apologize for the extraordinarily long delay in updating. First it was the holidays and ALL my family came over so I had to do that. And I don't really have another excuse for why it's so long other than I really don't care for this chapter and it took forever for me to get it where I liked it. And I'm not quite pleased with it. Sorry guys.
On upside, got a Gryffindor scarf for Christmas!
Some cursing in this chapter, it is rated PG-13 for a reason…
Disclaimer: I don't own it, I never have owned it, and unless J.K Rowling feels incredibly generous, I never will own it.
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Hermione and Ron looked at the place where the rescue party had just disappeared from. Hermione's mouth was hanging open, and for a minute Ron was tempted to snap it shut or at least make a sarcastic comment. But then he thought about where his best friend and his two brothers had just gone and all mirth was gone from him. Mrs. Weasley was still sobbing quietly on Mr. Weasley's shirt. It was a very somber occasion, one in which Hermione felt that she had no place in. Bill and Charlie came through the door, talking quietly. They stopped when they saw everyone's expressions.
"What happened?" Charlie hesitantly asked, almost fearful of what he would be told. He looked around; trying to see what could have upset his parents so much. If it's something that Fred and George have done…I'll kill both of them, he thought to himself, gritting his teeth as he thought about his younger brothers.
Bill was also looking around, intent on discovering what was wrong. He found what he was looking for when he saw crimson stained robes resting on a table. He walked forward, terrified at whose robes he was looking at. He touched them gently and leapt back with a shrill shriek as he touched flesh. "Who the hell is that?" he asked, standing far away from the table and starting to shake.
"Professor Snape," Hermione said, speaking up for the first time in a while. Her voice was hoarse and Ron could tell that she had been fighting to keep from crying. He felt a sudden surge of sympathy for the bushy-haired girl and put his arm around her. She stiffened, but accepted his gesture of comfort. "He Appparated himself to the house earlier today."
"Holy shit," Charlie faintly said, grabbing the counter to keep his knees from quaking. "Why is he here? Why did he Apparate himself here? Why is he unconscious and bleeding?"
"He was tailing Voldemort, remember?" Mr. Weasley addressed his elder sons. "I suppose that Voldemort must have found out about his true loyalties…somehow…" he shook his head as he thought about Snape's blown cover. "It certainly puts Dumbledore in a tight spot. Without Snape, we'll have no idea what Voldemort's doing."
The door opened and everyone turned around. Madam Pomfrey stepped in the house, her apron and normal clothes on. She looked exactly as Hermione remembered her from all the times she had seen her from when she was visiting Harry in the hospital wing. The witch went over to the table and bent over Snape, examining him carefully. Dumbledore watched her from the corner. If someone had been looking very carefully at him, they would have called his expression almost worried.
"I just wonder how Voldemort knew that Snape was our spy," Bill said, looking around the small, crowded kitchen. "You don't think…" he shook his head as the realization started to come to him. "No. Oliver wouldn't do that. No." Bill vigorously shook his head as Dumbledore's calm, stony gaze started to register with him.
"I just wonder what else Mr. Wood might have told," Dumbledore said, stroking his chin quietly. He saw everyone's horrified looks and answered their outraged questions. "I do not think that Mr. Wood talked of his own violation," Dumbledore said softly. "I think it is right to say that he accidentally revealed Professor Snape's identity under much pain and torment."
Madam Pomfrey looked up from where she had been examining Snape. "Sir, he's coming around!" she said to Dumbledore. Dumbledore immediately went to Snape's side, bending over his body as the greasy-haired Potions professor began to wake up.
"Hopefully he can tell us some important information that we might need," Dumbledore said, his eyes glinting with something akin to worry. He pushed his half-moon glasses up on the bridge of his nose. Snape's eyelids fluttered for a moment before they blinked open.
"Severus," Dumbledore said, motioning to Madam Pomfrey. She came when beckoned and offered Snape a vial to drink from. The Potions professor gulped greedily at the liquid which was offered to him. As soon as he swallowed it, he began to cough. Snape glared at Madam Pomfrey through his hacking.
"Well, I have to make sure that you're all right," she said primly, ignoring his fierce look. Snape drank a few more gulps of the Potion and then let his head fall down again. Dumbledore put his hand on Snape's arm, making Snape look at him.
"Severus, we must know what is coming," Dumbledore said urgently. "You must tell us what is coming so that we might be prepared." Snape's eyes started to close and Dumbledore spoke to him again, using a sharper tone. "Severus, listen to me!" he commanded, glaring at the drifting professor.
Snape opened one eye to look at the world. "He's coming…" he rasped out. His eyes opened wide as if he had just remembered something. The Weasley's looked up and Hermione anxiously clutched Ron's arm. Dumbledore bent lower as Snape's urgent whisper began to fade. "The Dark Lord…coming…he's coming…" The whisper faded entirely as Snape's head dropped to the table and he fell into unconsciousness. Dumbledore stood up and looked sharply at the Weasleys.
"Prepare to leave," he commanded them. They wasted no time, but gathered up everything that they would need. Mrs. Weasley gathered up the clothes and what money the family possessed while Mr. Weasley performed Shrinking Charms on all of the luggage and personal items that the children would need. Hermione quickly ran through the house getting Crookshanks and then helped Ron and Ginny capture Pigwidgeon and Hedwig. The owls hooted irritably as they were roused from their sleep. Errol was collapsed in the dish rack again, presumably after a long night. Charlie grabbed the unconscious owl before looking at his parents.
"Wait a moment," Mr. Weasley said, bringing an abrupt halt to the frantic action. Everyone looked at him as he spoke to Dumbledore. "How do we know that You-Voldemort is coming here?" Ron wrinkled his brow as he thought of that. The Burrow was under a Secret-Keeper Charm. How would Voldemort manage to find the Order of the Phoenix's secret hideaway spot?
"I wondered this myself at first," Dumbledore said, his eyebrows knitting together in concentration. "And then it occurred to me. Voldemort might have pulled the general location of the Burrow away from Mr. Wood. If they got the general location, then they could just send spells around until the spells hit the house." Mrs. Weasley clutched Ginny's arm so tightly that Ginny's fingertips turned blue.
"We don't have much time," Dumbledore said, shoving Ron towards the fireplace. Mr. Weasley took the hint and pointed his wand at the fireplace. A great roaring fire suddenly appeared. Dumbledore withdrew a small pouch from his robes and threw the contents into the fire. The fire grew taller and roared into a bright green colour. Mrs. Weasley shoved Ginny forward first. Ginny clutched her shrunk trunk and Pig. Her face was frozen with fear as she looked at her parents.
"Go to the secret place," Mrs. Weasley said, also communicating with her eyes. Ginny's eyes widened and she nodded as she understood what her mother was trying to tell her. She stepped into the fire, taking all of her things with her.
"Number twelve, Grimmauld Place!" she said briskly. The green flames roared up brighter around her and when they receded, Ginny was gone.
"Hermione, you next!" Mrs. Weasley said. The ritual was repeated again with Hermione and Ron until the adults were left in the room.
"We'd best go as well," Mr. Weasley finally said, looking uneasily around, his hand resting on his wife's forearm. "What are we going to do with…him?" he asked, jerking his head back to the table where Snape lay.
"I can conjure up a stretcher and Apparate him," Madam Pomfrey said. Dumbledore nodded to her. "As much as we would hate to do so, it might be necessary," she said to Dumbledore before she left. "I don't know whether or not I should transport him to Hogwarts or not. We might have to put him in St. Mungo's."
Dumbledore shook his head. He seemed to be thinking and then he looked up, the solution evident in his eyes. "Apparate to the Ministry. They have witches and wizards that can help you and you can spend the night there." Madam Pomfrey nodded, her face set with determination. She conjured up a stretcher and brought Snape off of the table. She waved her wand in the air and they both disappeared with a sound like a whip cracking. Dumbledore looked at all that was left of the Weasleys. They looked sadly depleted. Percy was cast out of the family, the twins had gone with the Order to rescue Oliver, and their two youngest were at the Headquarters of the Order.
"I will follow you," Dumbledore said, his eyes looking at the Weasleys. Mrs. Weasley nodded fervently. "Go now," Dumbledore said. Bill raised his hand. All eyes turned to him.
"Wait a moment," he said, his voice quiet. "Does anyone else hear that?" There was no sound in the room save their breathing.
"It sounds like…" Charlie looked up in horror as the realization of what was coming hit him.
"Incantations," Mr. Weasley finished, grabbing the rest of the luggage. "Go now! Bill, Charlie, go!" he bellowed at his eldest sons. With identical sounds, both Bill and Charlie disappeared. A blast of white light cut through one wall, baring it to the bright sun of the late afternoon. Mrs. Weasley could not stop a small yelp from escaping her mouth.
"Molly, let's go!" Mr. Weasley yelled. Dumbledore motioned them on, but the Weasley parents waited for a fraction of a second. "Are you sure you'll be all right?" Mr. Weasley yelled, blinking furiously to clear the dust from the fallen wall out of his eyes.
"Arthur, I will be fine, now go!" Dumbledore commanded with authority heavy on his voice. The Weasley parents did as he said and Apparated away, though not before seeing another wall of their house fell to the spells of the Death Eaters.
When Arthur appeared in the Headquarters, the first thing he did was sneeze. He could easily tell that there had been a long absence in the house, for dust had accumulated quite heavily. He felt a pang of grief in his heart as he remembered the dark-haired man who used to live here and then he shook his head and concentrated on the task at hand. Ron, Hermione and Ginny were standing around their luggage with lost looks on their face, but Molly was already there with them. Arthur turned his attention to Bill and Charlie instead.
"Well, it's not like home, but it'll do," Bill said, attempting to be lighthearted in the midst of all the tragedy. His brave ambition at humor fell painfully flat. Everyone looked at Dumbledore as he appeared in their midst.
"I put up a Shield Charm around your house," he announced to them. "I could not repair the damage that was already done, but the Death Eaters will not be able to hurt the house anymore." Mrs. Weasley nodded her head in thanks while still clutching Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. She was muttering reassurances to them-and also squeezing the breath out of them.
A small owl blew in the room. "It must have gotten in through the open place in the attic," Hermione whispered. Her mind switched gears rapidly. "Buckbeak!" she hissed out. Ron looked at her. "Where's Buckbeak?" she asked him. Ron shrugged and turned back to Dumbledore.
"Ah," he said, folding the letter and tucking it inside a pocket inside his robes. "Poppy's managed to secure help at the Ministry," he told them all. "All of them are our people," he told the Weasleys before they could ask. Hermione stepped forward. He looked at her kindly. "Yes Ms. Granger?"
"Professor, where's Buckbeak?" she asked him hesitantly. "We haven't heard anything mentioned about him after…after last year," she said, casting her eyes to the ground.
"He is up in one of the upstairs rooms," Dumbledore informed them. "Charlie checks in on him usually every day and makes sure that he is all right." Charlie kicked the floor and looked down. He was terrified that if he looked up, everyone would see the bright red blush that had spread across his face. Dumbledore's voice was full of pride.
"So what do we do now?" Ron asked, looking around distastefully at the old house. "What'll happen to the others?" he asked suddenly. "They're going to go back to the house when they come back and we're not going to be there!"
"I took care of that as well," Dumbledore said patiently. "On your doorstep there is a phoenix feather. This will alert them to the fact that we have changed our location. Naturally, they will think of here first." Dumbledore smiled wisely at them as Ron realized that Dumbledore had indeed taken care of everything.
"What are we going to do now?" Ginny asked, echoing her older brother's question.
"I think that's obvious," Mrs. Weasley said firmly. "Since we can't do anything to help the Order find Oliver, we're going to do the next best thing. We're going to clean up their headquarters!" She finished this with a too-bright smile that made her children wince. She conjured up many rags and handed one to Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. "Come on dears," she said, beginning to wipe away at a table, clearing dust away and making all of the children sneeze, "it's time that we got this pigsty cleaned up. It's been far too long since someone was here and gave it a good scrub."
While Mrs. Weasley was keeping everyone else occupied, Dumbledore pulled Mr. Weasley over to the side. "You're going to be all right while you're here Arthur?" he asked, glancing at the rest of the family.
"Yes sir, we'll be fine," Arthur said stoutly, squaring his shoulders. "And if I may sir, where will you be going?"
'I will go to the Ministry, and see what Poppy can do for Severus," Dumbledore said. "Good luck. I will be back in a few days to check up on you." Arthur nodded and the two wizards both said their farewells. Arthur watched as Dumbledore swept out of the door. He looked out of the window at the square, but Dumbledore was already gone.
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Cold. That was the first thing that hit him. His face slammed into packed snow, making him cry out. When he did cry out, he got a mouthful of snow. Harry slowly sat up, already shivering. His summer clothes had no place in Northern Russia. "Oh bother," Tonks said, looking at all of them. "We came in our summer clothes, didn't we?"
"Brilliant deduction," Fred muttered rebelliously, his teeth chattering madly. George echoed his twin's stare, his arms wrapped around his waist tightly.
Kingsley waved his wand and muttered something under his breath. Almost instantly the entire company was covered with thick warm cloaks. Alicia clutched her cloak tight to her and watched her breath blow out. She could feel the tips of her ears and her nose beginning to go numb.
"Well, come on," Lupin said, waving them all forward. "We're not getting anything done here." All of the members looked at him and slowly moved forward.
Half an hour later they were still walking. Katie coughed and winced, feeling a shot of pain go through her raw throat. She winced and pulled her cloak tighter around herself. Her feet shuffled through the snow, making long trenches that were automatically erased after they passed. She sniffled, feeling herself gain a cold. "Where are we?" she called up to Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley and Moody.
"We're close to where we think Voldemort has his lair," Moody shouted back, then turned around and stared at her. "Constant vigilance is required!" he shouted, a mad gleam in one of his eyes. Katie would have jumped, but she was too frozen to be very much surprised. "Constant vigilance," he told her again before turning around.
"Honestly, you're mad Moody," Tonks said, brushing back her hair, which was her favorite colour, spiky pink. Kingsley nodded, his teeth chattering too much to add to Tonk's description of Moody. Tonks blinked her eyes, trying to get snowflakes off her eyelashes. The wind was brutal, turning all of their cheeks as pink as Tonks' hair. It scraped their faces, turning their cheeks raw. It was not a kind place to be.
Alicia looked around at the blank landscape. It was nothing by a pure white blanket of snow as far as the eye could see. If someone was caught out in this…if a wizard was caught out in this without his wand…it would take a miracle to get out alive. And that was for a perfectly healthy wizard, not one who had been caught by Voldemort and kept prisoner for at least several weeks if not longer. She winced and bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes and freezing as they hit her cheeks, as she thought of what would most likely become of Oliver if he was out here.
Angelina trudged along, her head down to avoid the wind. The snow soon became blurred underneath her vision. She felt like she had been walking for hours on end. And I always thought that Oliver's training sessions were bad, she thought wryly to herself. The thought of Oliver made her pause. She stopped and watched as the snow gathered around her feet. Oliver…she bit her lip and looked up at the bleak grey sky. Why did I ever get myself into this? She wondered as she kept on staring at the sky. Why am I fooling myself? I'm not smart like Alicia, or brave like Katie. I'm just…here. I don't have any great skill with magic. And I'm going into one of the most powerful wizard's lair in the world armed with nothing more than my friends, two of which are underage and my wand. No, I'm not insane at all.
"Oy! Angelina!" Angelina quickly turned around as she saw Fred and George struggling through the snow. "What did you stop for? You're miles behind everyone else!"
"What about you?" she asked, trying to stop the wind from blowing her over. She waited until the twins caught up with her and then the three started walking forward again.
"Oh…we were just walking," George said, looking down at the snow. "We don't do snow very well." He coughed as some snow and wind went into his opened mouth.
Angelina put her head down and walked a few steps forward. She grunted when she ran into someone. She looked up and saw Lupin turning around to look at her. "Everyone's here?" Moody asked, looking around at their meager. "Good." He started to walk up, his wooden leg sinking deep into the snow. "Damn snow, damn leg," he cursed to himself as he finally got in front of all of them.
"We think that Voldemort's lair is somewhere over there," Moody gestured towards his left. Everyone automatically turned their heads to look at where he was pointing. There was nothing there.
"But there's nothing there," Fred said, speaking the words that were on everyone's minds. Moody pointed at him and nodded as if he had been expecting someone to say something like this.
"It's because there's nothing there that we suspect it. Concentrate hard boy. Can you feel anything?" Moody waited while the red-headed boy closed his eyes. One could see him almost shaking with effort. After a few seconds he finally stopped and shook his head. "See, if a wizard can't feel anything in a place at all, not even the slightest tingling of magic, then there's a pretty good bet that there is a lot of magic hidden somewhere close."
Harry looked around, trying to find the location of the lair. He had been listening to what Moody had said, but he had a connection with Voldemort that not many-all right, no one else had. He concentrated hard on Voldemort, focusing on his pale white face, his snake-like nostrils, his wide red eyes-
Lupin's face paled when he heard the scream. He turned around to see Harry writing in the snow, his hands clutching his scar. Angelina, Katie and Alicia were kneeling down in the snow beside him. Alicia was trying to soothe Harry while Angelina was urgently whispering to him. "Harry, shut up!" she hissed at the young boy. "Do you want him to know where we are?" Harry's cries only became louder, if that was possible.
Lupin and Tonks ran back to Harry while Moody tried to follow, cursing all the while at his wooden leg. Lupin tried to talk to Harry, but nothing worked. Harry suddenly went stiff. His eyes snapped open and stared straight ahead at the cloudy grey sky. Kingsley quietly cursed and watched Lupin talk to the unresponsive Harry.
After several tense moments, Harry began to react normally to his environment. Lupin let out a sigh of relief as Harry sat up. Moody looked around and also sighed in relief as there were no Death Eaters coming after them. Harry looked up Moody, Kingsley, Tonks, and Lupin. "Voldemort's that way," he said, pointing slightly to the left of where Moody had pointed. "I could feel him there."
Lupin sighed as he helped Harry up. "Harry, do you realize what you could have done?" he asked the young wizard-in-training. "Your screams could have alerted the Death Eaters to our presence and we might be done for!" Harry could see the hidden looks of agreement on almost everyone's face. Lupin bent down on the pretense of checking Harry's scar. "But I'm quite certain that your father would have done the same thing, no matter how foolhardy it was," Lupin whispered quietly, so no one else but Harry would hear. Harry half-smiled and moved forward, his wand out and ready.
Alicia, Angelina, and Katie all moved forward together, caught in their idea that if they stayed together they would be better protected. Alicia held her wand out as she scanned the horizon. Her right foot accidentally hit her left foot as she was walking through the snow and she fell down hard on her face. "Alicia," Katie hissed, offering her hand. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," Alicia grunted, taking Katie's hand and putting one hand on the ground to push herself up. Her hand went through the snow. Alicia groaned in exasperation and tried to move her hand. Her face froze in a mask of horror when she discovered that there was something soft underneath her hand. There was something made of flesh resting underneath her hand. "Angelina…Katie…" Alicia said, her voice shaking in horror. "There's something under there.
The two Chasers looked at her in horror. "Are you serious?" Angelina asked, her voice suddenly sounding weak. Alicia inwardly smirked. Despite her tomboy appearance, there was something that Angelina could not stand and that was dead things. It didn't matter what it was, if it was dead then Angelina wouldn't go near it. "We're going to have to dig it up, aren't we?" Angelina asked, her face sinking and her voice reflecting her apprehension and disgust. Alicia winced and nodded.
"It might help us," she said, watching Katie dump a large pile of snow off to the side. "We could see what it is. Perhaps You-Voldemort," she let out an involuntary shudder at his name, "has been using some Death Eaters for target practice."
"Alicia, that wasn't very funny," Angelina said seriously. Alicia looked at her, knowing that Angelina was hiding a smile and secret shame at herself that she hadn't said something like that first.
"Wait a moment," Alicia said after a few seconds of watching Angelina and Katie clear snow away manually. She took her wand out and pointed it at the snow. The snow seemed to shimmer and then it melted. "Melting Charm," Alicia said proudly. Angelina gasped and quickly moved away from the melted snow. Alicia looked and saw why Angelina had moved away so fast.
A hand stuck up from the snow.
Katie screamed in horror. Everyone's heads snapped to where the girls were. Fred and George started running to their sides, followed quickly after by Harry. Lupin and Tonks came right after, their wands out. Kingsley was right behind them. Alicia wordlessly pointed at the hand. Lupin finished the Melting Charm that Alicia had started. He leaned down close to the snow and swiped a few last pieces of snow and slush off of the body.
And Alicia was confronted with Oliver Wood's pale, almost dead, face.
Alicia reached her hand out to touch it, to reassure herself that he was not dead. No, he's not dead, he can't be dead, please don't let him be dead, oh Oliver if you're dead then I'll kill you, don't be dead, how can you be dead-her mind cried out in one long, continuous monologue.
A purple light lanced across the grey sky and Alicia heard something she thought that she would never hear in her life: Angelina screaming.
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Meh. After a lot of long and pointless exposition we finally got back to what mattered. Go me. Anyway. Please review and tell me what you thought of it.
See? You click right there.
Right there.
