Harry and Key lead everybody back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt Petunia's gleaming work surfaces, or leaned up against her spotless appliances: Ron, long and lanky; Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait; Fred and George, grinning identically; Bill, badly scarred and long-haired; Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was her favorite shade of bright pink; Lupin, grayer, more lined; Fleur, slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; Kingsley, bald, black, broad-shouldered; Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and hangdog, with his droopy basset hound's eyes and matted hair.
Among Key's friends is Qin, Li, Keni, Toni, Syria, Veronica, Amy, Devin, and Betty.
Harry's heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight: He felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom he had tried to strangle the last time they had met.
Key was overjoyed to see her friends as well and even though it was short to see her mom and dad.
Makai hugs Key and says "Before when you sent that letter, did you really mean it?"
"Yes, I want to spend the rest of my life with, no pressure, you don't have to answer now", said Key.
"Wait, Wait, am I hearing that you are proposing to Makai or already did?" Toni asks Key.
Key nodded.
Key's friends giggled and smiled.
From Harry's pov, he is enjoying himself.
"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" he called across the room.
"He can get along without me for one night," said Kingsley. "You're more important."
"Harry, guess what?" said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him; a ring glittered there.
Key walks to Harry and hears about Tonks' news and smiles.
"You got married?" Harry yelped, looking from her to Lupin.
"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet."
"That's brilliant, congrat —" replied Harry.
"Yeah", said Key.
"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later!" roared Moody over the hubbub, and silence fell in the kitchen. Moody dropped his sacks at his feet and turned to Harry and Key. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely.
"Second problem: Harry, you're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you."
"I don't —" replied Harry.
"The Trace, the Trace!" said Mad-Eye impatiently. "The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about underage magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters.
"We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper."
"That was a thing this whole entire time, and nobody thought to mention that before", Key off hand comments.
"So, what happens now?" Harry asks Mad-Eye.
"We're going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use them: brooms, thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike", said Mad-Eye.
"So, all of you rode brooms just be cautious?" Key asks her friends outside of Syria and Vernoica.
"Yeah", said Key's friends.
"Li, Qin, how is your grandmother and grandfather?" Veronica asks Li and Qin.
"They are fine, they found a safe haven", said Li and Qin.
"Same for us", Key's other friends said.
"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or" — Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen — "you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?"
Harry nodded.
"Key, since your birthday has passed, the trace is already off you", said Moody.
"Odd, since originally the trace was just for wizards, but since the wizarding world is becoming more accepting of us, a new rule was placed 100 years ago", said Amija.
"Yet, you act like that is new", said Key.
"Anyway this time, when you leave, there'll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We're choosing to break it early, because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen", said Mad-Eye to Harry. "The one thing we've got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesn't know we're moving you tonight. We've leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: They think you're not leaving until the thirtieth. However, this is You-Know-Who we're dealing with, so we can't just rely on him getting the date wrong; he's bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area, just in case.
So, we've given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place we're going to hide you, they've all got some connection with the Order: my house, Kingsley's place, Molly's Auntie Muriel's — you get the idea."
"Yeah", said Key and Harry.
Harry is still thinking about the flaw in the plan.
Key's friends and Makai go near Abigail.
"You two will be going to Tonks's parents. Once you're within the boundaries of the protective enchantments we've put on their house, you'll be able to use a Portkey to the Burrow. Any questions?" said Mad-Eye.
"Er — yes," said Harry. "Maybe they won't know which of the twelve secure houses I'm heading for at first, but won't it be sort of obvious once" — he performed a quick headcount — "twenty six of us fly off toward Tonks's parents'?"
"Ah," said Moody, "I forgot to mention the key point. Fourteen of us won't be flying to Tonks's parents'. There will be seven Harry Potters along with a few Key Walters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house."
"Wait, you don't mean, do you?" Key questioned, looking worried.
"NO! No way!" replied Harry reacted as well.
"I told them you'd take it like this," said Hermione with a hint of complacency.
"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives — !" replied Harry.
"Wait, does that mean all of you are going disguise as me, please say no", said Key, looking worried at her friends.
"Unfortunately we are sweetie, we aren't going to do nothing besides be suspicious if any of Harry's don't have you with", said Makai.
"— because it's the first time for all of us," said Ron.
"This is different, pretending to be me —" replied Harry.
"And me as well, I wanted all of us to be together, not all of you do something this risk, then again in a realistic point of course something like this would happen; that doesn't matter I don't want all of you to get nearly killed by being decoys", Key acknowldeged.
"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly.
"Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever", said George.
Harry did not smile.
Key giggles a little, then stops once Harry looks at her.
"You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair."
"Well, that's that plan scuppered," said George. "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate."
"Are we going to have to fight you too?" Amy asks Key.
"No", said Key. "Just don't".
Syria takes a piece of hair from Key's head with a tweezer.
"I was going to say don't pull too hard", said Key.
"If it has to come to force, then it will," Moody growled at Harry, his magical eye now quivering a little in its socket as he glared at Harry. "Everyone here's overage, Potter, and they're all prepared to take the risk."
Mundungus shrugged and grimaced; the magical eye swerved sideways to glare at him out of the side of Moody's head.
"Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now", said Mad-Eye.
"I got it, tweezers", said Key, then takes pieces of hair from Harry. "Sorry, Harry, but we are pushing for time".
"I can't believe you are cool with this", said Harry.
"Harry, don't get me wrong, I wish there is a different alternative, but in these times we have to be absolutely cautious and all of them have made up their mind and nothing we say will change that", Key told Harry. "If you want you can drop it in the liquid".
Harry dropped the hair into the mudlike liquid. The moment it made contact with its surface, the potion began to froth and smoke, then, all at once, it turned a clear, bright gold.
"Oh, it turned to a golden color", said Key.
"Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry," said Hermione, before catching sight of Ron's raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and saying, "Oh, you know what I mean — Goyle's potion looked like bogies."
Key's friends smiled.
Abigail reveals the liquid for the Polyjuice.
Syria puts pieces of Key's hair into the liquid and turns into a more goldish orange color.
"Yours is beautiful too", said Syria.
"Weird", said Key.
"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please," said Moody.
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur lined up in front of Aunt Petunia's gleaming sink.
"We're one short," said Lupin.
"Here," said Hagrid gruffly, and he lifted Mundungus by the scruff of the neck and dropped him down beside Fleur, who wrinkled her nose pointedly and moved along to stand between Fred and George instead.
"I've toldjer, I'd sooner be a protector," said Mundungus.
"Shut it," growled Moody. "As I've already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eaters we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. Dumbledore always said You-Know-Who would want to finish Potter in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about, the Death Eaters'll want to kill them."
Key looks at Mundungus and growls.
Mundungus looks slightly scared.
Moody was already pulling half a dozen eggcup-sized glasses from inside his cloak, which he handed out, before pouring a little Polyjuice Potion into each one.
"Altogether, then . . ."
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus drank. All of them gasped and grimaced as the potion hit their throats: At once, their features began to bubble and distort like hot wax. Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward; Ron, Fred, and George were shrinking; their hair was darkening, Hermione's and Fleur's appearing to shoot backward into their skulls.
Moody, quite unconcerned, was now loosening the ties of the large sacks he had brought with him. When he straightened up again, there were six Harry Potters gasping and panting in front of him.
Fred and George turned to each other and said together, "Wow — we're identical!"
"I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking," said Fred, examining his reflection in the kettle.
"Bah," said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door, "Bill, don't look at me — I'm 'ideous."
"Those whose clothes are a bit roomy, I've got smaller here," said Moody, indicating the first sack, "and vice versa. Don't forget the glasses, there's six pairs in the side pocket. And when you're dressed, there's luggage in the other sack."
The real Harry thought that this might just be the most bizarre thing he had ever seen, and he had seen some extremely odd things. He watched as his six doppelgangers rummaged in the sacks, pulling out sets of clothes, putting on glasses, stuffing their own things away. He felt like asking them to show a little more respect for his privacy as they all began stripping off with impunity, clearly much more at ease with displaying his body than they would have been with their own.
"I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo," said Ron, looking down at his bare chest.
"Harry, your eyesight really is awful," said Hermione, as she put on glasses.
Once dressed, the fake Harrys took rucksacks and owl cages, each containing a stuffed snowy owl, from the second sack.
"Good," said Moody, as at last seven dressed, bespectacled, and luggage-laden Harrys faced him. "The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be traveling with me, by broom —"
Qin, Li, Keni, Toni, Syria, Veronica, and Amy drinked the polyjuice that had Key's hair in it, and they turned seven Key Walters.
"Wow! Key, your eyesight is bad, seems you have that in common with your cousin", said Syria.
"Man, your hair is so silky", said Toni.
"She's right", said Qin.
The fake Keys took bags.
"Why'm I with you?" grunted the Harry nearest the back door.
"Because you're the one that needs watching," growled Moody, and sure enough, his magical eye did not waver from Mundungus as he continued, "Arthur and Fred —"
"I'm George," said the twin at whom Moody was pointing. "Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?"
"Sorry, George —"
"I'm only yanking your wand, I'm Fred really —"
"Enough messing around!" snarled Moody. "The other one — George or Fred or whoever you are — you're with Remus. Miss Delacour —"
"I'm taking Fleur on a thestral," said Bill. "She's not that fond of brooms."
Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.
"Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by thestral —"
Hermione looked reassured as she answered Kingsley's smile; Harry knew that Hermione too lacked confidence on a broomstick.
"Which leaves you and me, Ron!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a mug tree as she waved at him.
Ron did not look quite as pleased as Hermione.
Qin is with Fleur and Bill.
Li is with Hermione and Kingsley.
Keni is with Tonks and Ron.
Toni is with George and Reamus.
Syria is with Arthur and Fred.
"An' you're with me, Harry. That all righ'?" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious. "We'll be on the bike, brooms an' thestrals can't take me weight, see. Not a lot o' room on the seat with me on it, though, so you'll be in the sidecar."
"That's great," said Harry, not altogether truthfully.
"Key, you'll be with me", said Abigail.
"Keeping your promise to mom", said Key.
"Yes and I care about you", said Abigail.
"I care about you too", said Key.
Moody silenced everybody.
"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom," said Moody, who seemed to guess how Harry was feeling. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you he's never mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who look at home on a broomstick. All right then," he went on, tying up the sack with the fake Potters' clothes in it and leading the way back to the door, "I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. . . . Come on. . . ."
Harry hurried into the hall to fetch his rucksack, Firebolt, and Hedwig's cage before joining the others in the dark back garden. On every side broomsticks were leaping into hands; Hermione had already been helped up onto a great black thestral by Kingsley, Fleur onto the other by Bill. Hagrid was standing ready beside the motorbike, goggles on.
"Is this it? Is this Sirius's bike?"
"The very same," said Hagrid, beaming down at Harry. "An' the last time yeh was on it, Harry, I could fit yeh in one hand along with you Key!"
Key looked a little embarrassed.
Harry could not help but feel a little humiliated as he got into the sidecar. It placed him several feet below everybody else: Ron smirked at the sight of him sitting there like a child in a bumper car. Harry stuffed his rucksack and broomstick down by his feet and rammed Hedwig's cage between his knees. It was extremely uncomfortable.
"Arthur's done a bit o' tinkerin'," said Hagrid, quite oblivious to Harry's discomfort. He settled himself astride the motorcycle, which creaked slightly and sank inches into the ground. "It's got a few tricks up its handlebars now. Tha' one was my idea."
He pointed a thick finger at a purple button near the speedometer.
"Please be careful, Hagrid," said Mr. Weasley, who was standing beside them, holding his broomstick. "I'm still not sure that was advisable and it's certainly only to be used in emergencies."
Key gets in Abigail's vehicle which is a magical convertible.
"How long have you had this?" Key asks Abigail.
"Ummm...ever since I had to watch you and Harry, I just don't use it often", said Abigail.
"Okay", said Abigail.
"All right then," said Moody. "Everyone ready, please; I want us all to leave at exactly the same time or the whole point of the diversion's lost."
Everybody mounted their brooms.
"Hold tight now, Ron," said Tonks, and Harry saw Ron throw a furtive, guilty look at Lupin before placing his hands on either side of her waist. Hagrid kicked the motorbike into life: It roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to vibrate.
Key starts the convertible.
"Good luck, everyone," shouted Moody. "See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One . . . two . . . THREE."
There was a great roar from the motorbike, and Harry felt the sidecar give a nasty lurch: He was rising through the air fast, his eyes watering slightly, hair whipped back off his face. Around him brooms were soaring upward too; the long black tail of a thestral flicked past. His legs, jammed into the sidecar by Hedwig's cage and his rucksack, were already sore and starting to go numb. So great was his discomfort that he almost forgot to take a last glimpse of number four, Privet Drive; by the time he looked over the edge of the sidecar he could no longer tell which one it was. Higher and higher they climbed into the sky.
Abigail enters the sky as well, Key starts to feel car sick which reminded her of her last magic car ride.
Before everybody knew it, there was at least thirty hooded figures, suspended in midair, formed a vast circle in the midst of which the Order members had risen, oblivious —
Key looked shocked and her hands glowed, her aura made an aura around Harry.
"Key, put your aura down or they will sense us", said Abigail, looking worried and head close to Harry and Hagrid.
"Understand", said Key.
But, it was too late, a dark figure attacks the roof of Abagail's car.
Abigail sends a wave of her aura and takes the dark hooded figure down.
Harry's owl: Hedwig got hit.
Harry yelled as he saw his best friend dead in his cage.
Key noticing who Harry is calling and that he is crying.
Key makes a tiny aura in the form of an owl and sends it to Harry.
Harry turns around to see Key.
Key mouths 'Don't think irrational'.
Harry mouths 'There are dementors everywhere, we can't leave them'
Abigail moves away, so more Death Eaters wouldn't notice Key.
"Hagrid, we've got to go back, we've got to go back!" he yelled over the thunderous roar of the engine, pulling out his wand, ramming Hedwig's cage onto the floor, refusing to believe that she was dead. "Hagrid, TURN AROUND!"
"My job's ter get you there safe, Harry!" bellowed Hagrid, and he opened the throttle.
"Stop — STOP!" Harry shouted, but as he looked back again two jets of green light flew past his left ear: Four Death Eaters had broken away from the circle and were pursuing them, aiming for Hagrid's broad back. Hagrid swerved, but the Death Eaters were keeping up with the bike; more curses shot after them, and Harry had to sink low into the sidecar to avoid them. Wriggling around he cried, "Stupefy!" and a red bolt of light shot from his own wand, cleaving a gap between the four pursuing Death Eaters as they scattered to avoid it.
Key looks worried as she looks back at Harry and sighs in relief.
"Key, you might want to get out your aura", said Abigail.
"What makes you say that?" Key wondered, then she notices more Death Eaters gathered in a circle.
Key and Abigail united their aura and gets rid of the Death Eaters.
Back with Harry and Hagrid.
"Hold on, Harry, this'll do for 'em!" roared Hagrid, and Harry looked up just in time to see Hagrid slamming a thick finger into a green button near the fuel gauge.
A wall, a solid brick wall, erupted out of the exhaust pipe. Craning his neck, Harry saw it expand into being in midair. Three of the Death Eaters swerved and avoided it, but the fourth was not so lucky: He vanished from view and then dropped like a boulder from behind it, his broomstick broken into pieces. One of his fellows slowed up to save him, but they and the airborne wall were swallowed by darkness as Hagrid leaned low over the handlebars and sped up.
More Killing Curses flew past Harry's head from the two remaining Death Eaters' wands; they were aiming for Hagrid. Harry responded with further Stunning Spells: Red and green collided in midair in a shower of multicolored sparks, and Harry thought wildly of fireworks, and the Muggles below who would have no idea what was happening —
"Here we go again, Harry, hold on!" yelled Hagrid, and he jabbed at a second button. This time a great net burst from the bike's exhaust, but the Death Eaters were ready for it. Not only did they swerve to avoid it, but the companion who had slowed to save their unconscious friend had caught up. He bloomed suddenly out of the darkness and now three of them were pursuing the motorbike, all shooting curses after it.
Key and Abigail see that the other hooded figures that are following them aren't only Death Eaters, they are also vampires who are enemies of faes.
Abigail sends a ball of pure aura that makes the vampires evaporate.
Key sends a red ball of energy that leads to an electric wave that destroys the Death Eaters' wands.
"You learned destructive magic?" Abigail looked surprised.
"Yeah, but it still makes me feel weak", said Key, seeing steam from her hand.
Abigail sends more waves, giving Key a breather.
Hagrid saw him slam his whole hand onto the purple button beside the speedometer.
With an unmistakable bellowing roar, dragon fire burst from the exhaust, white-hot and blue, and the motorbike shot forward like a bullet with a sound of wrenching metal. Harry saw the Death Eaters swerve out of sight to avoid the deadly trail of flame, and at the same time felt the sidecar sway ominously: Its metal connections to the bike had splintered with the force of acceleration.
"It's all righ', Harry!" bellowed Hagrid, now thrown flat onto his back by the surge of speed; nobody was steering now, and the sidecar was starting to twist violently in the bike's slipstream.
"I'm on it, Harry, don' worry!" Hagrid yelled, and from inside his jacket pocket he pulled his flowery pink umbrella.
"Hagrid! No! Let me!"
"REPARO!"
There was a deafening bang and the sidecar broke away from the bike completely: Harry sped forward, propelled by the impetus of the bike's flight, then the sidecar began to lose height —
Key's protection charm lifts the sidecar and helps him fly.
"Thanks, Key", Harry whispers.
Harry had but a split second's relief, however, as more curses streaked past him: The three Death Eaters were closing in.
The protection charm reflect those curses, but the Death Eaters dodge them.
Harry pointed at the middle of the oncoming figures and yelled, "Impedimenta!"
Unexpectedly, Key's protection charm weakened and he fell.
Hagrid immediately heads to Harry and catches him.