Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen: Change of Plans

It became clear pretty quickly that Mrs. Weasley really was quite angry about Daphne's defense of Ginny, as she remained frosty and curt over the next week.

Daphne, however, couldn't care less and happily continued doing all the chores she was assigned, because at least Ginny wasn't being lectured anymore. Being treated coldly was hardly the worst Daphne had ever dealt with in her life, anyway, and this was for a good cause. Hermione seemed to think she'd gone too far as well, but had given up trying to convince Daphne of this, so life was good.

Or, well, it was as good as it could be, considering the circumstances. Pius Thicknesses, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, had defected to Voldemort's side. It wasn't known whether it had been a voluntary betrayal or if he'd been Imperiused, but the fact remained that he intended to make it impossible for Harry to leave his aunt's and uncle's house without tipping off the Ministry, and thus the Death Eaters.

Consequently, the entire plan had to be changed, and most members of the Order had been working on that nonstop ever since. Mum and Dad were also heavily involved in it, and were taking some pleasure in informing Daphne that she wouldn't be, probably as revenge for her not telling them about her mission.

Hermione and Ron, however, would be involved in the plan, and consequently Daphne knew perfectly well what was going to happen, and she was glad she wouldn't be involved. Ginny would've liked to be, but she was careful not to mention that anywhere her mother might hear her.

The plan was to disguise eight members of the Order as Harry with Polyjuice Potion, and have them all flying toward a different safehouse accompanied by a guardian to disguise any Death Eaters patrolling the skies. Additionally, they would move Harry a week earlier than originally planned, to make the odds of any catastrophes even smaller still. Mum and Dad would form one of the Harry-guardian pairs. Mum, as the best flyer, would be taking on Harry's form, while Dad as the superior duelist would be the guard. Though they talked lightly about it, Daphne knew her parents well enough to know that they were both frightened and taking things very seriously indeed.

On the day the plan would go off, even Mrs. Weasley forgot to be angry with Daphne and Ginny, and when everyone involved with the operation had departed, she told them they could finish the rest of the chores as soon as everyone had safely arrived.

"I wish I could've been with them," Ginny said, leaning against the wall of her bedroom. "I'm a good enough flyer for it."

"I'm fine with sitting this one out, really," Daphne said softly. "I don't like brooms, and even if I'd been on Buckbeak, or something, the Death Eaters would simply shoot him out of the sky. And it's not like I can see Thestrals, so that's out, too."

"But you'd do it for Harry, right?" Ginny asked.

"Of course! But now, there are plenty of people to assist. They don't need me there."

"But…sitting here waiting…that's much worse than risking your life," Ginny said.

Daphne didn't reply immediately. She knew that Ginny wasn't really talking so much about this operation, as she was about the Horcrux-hunt. They still hadn't managed to come up with a way to disable the Trace, and it was looking increasingly unlikely that Ginny would be able to come, something Daphne still refused to accept. Hell, that frustration had been one of her primary reasons to argue with Mrs. Weasley at all; she'd wanted to do something with her feelings of powerlessness, and, right or wrong, arguing certainly helped with that.

For the time being, however, she was mostly feeling nervous. She didn't really expect much to go wrong with retrieving Harry. It was a week earlier than expected, and there were plenty of skilled decoys involved. Surely, they'd be okay, right?

She checked her watch. "They should be departing right about now," she said.

She and Ginny exchanged a momentary glance, almost as if they expected some kind of sign that the mission had begun, but of course nothing happened.

Some time later, however, Mrs. Weasley yelled from downstairs, "The Portkeys should be arriving soon! Get downstairs!"

Daphne and Ginny got up, headed down the stairs and joined Mrs. Weasley outside just in time for a small blue light to appear just above the ground outside of the Burrow's borders. A rusty oilcan fell on the ground, but there weren't any people.

"Oh no," Mrs. Weasley said softly.

"That was Ron and Tonks's, wasn't it?" Daphne asked.

Ginny nodded silently.

A minute or two later, another light appeared. This time, a worn-out plimsoll appeared, again without anyone accompanying it.

"Dad and Fred missed theirs as well?" Ginny said worriedly.

"Oh, I hope they're all right…" Mrs. Weasley said, anxiously rubbing her hands together.

Another couple of minutes passed, and this time, the Portkey delivered Hagrid and Harry.

"Harry? You are the real Harry? What happened? Where are the others?" Mrs. Weasley asked frantically.

"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" Harry asked, looking from Mrs. Weasley to Daphne and Ginny. "The Death Eaters were waiting for us," Harry said grimly. "We were surrounded the moment we took off — they knew it was tonight — I don't know what happened to anyone else. Four of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Voldemort caught up with us…"

"Thank goodness you're all right!" Mrs. Weasley said, pulling Harry into a hug.

"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" Hagrid asked shakily. "Fer medicinal purposes?"

Mrs. Weasley hurried away, and Harry looked at Daphne and Ginny.

"Ron and Tonks should've been back first, but they missed their Portkey," Ginny said, pointing at the oilcan. "And that one should have been Dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were third, and if they made it, George and Remus ought to be back in about a minute."

Mrs. Weasley returned with a bottle of brandy, which Hagrid downed in a single gulp, and then another blue light appeared, several feet from where they were standing. Remus and George appeared, and Daphne saw that George's face was covered in blood and that he was being supported by Remus.

Harry helped Remus carry George inside, and no sooner had they put him down that Remus drew his wand and pointed it at Harry.

"What creature sat in the corner, the first time Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts? Answer me!" he demanded.

"A Grindylow in a tank," Harry said without hesitation.

"We've been betrayed," Remus seethed, lowering his wand. "They knew we were moving Harry tonight."

"No one in the Order told Voldemort we'd be moving tonight," Harry said firmly. "He only caught up with us toward the end. If he'd known our plan, he would've gone after me immediately."

"Voldemort caught up with you?" Remus asked. "What happened? How did you escape?" Harry explained how he had Disarmed Stan Shunpike, after which Voldemort caught up with them.

Remus groaned. "Harry, the time for Disarming is past! At least Stun if you aren't prepared to kill," he said.

"Stan was Imperiused," Harry said. "If I'd Stunned him at that altitude, he would have died, and I'm not killing innocent people just because they're there. That's Voldemort's job. Besides, Expelliarmus saved me from Voldemort in that graveyard."

"Yes, Harry, and a great number of Death Eaters witnessed that happening! Forgive me, but it was a very unusual move then, under imminent threat of death. Repeating it tonight in front of Death Eaters who either witnessed or heard about the first occasion was close to suicidal!"

"Remus, I am not killing Imperiused people if I don't have to," Harry said. "Disarming Stan made him harmless anyway. How did you expect me to know Voldemort would come after me because I used Expelliarmus on him once? I Stunned about three other Death Eaters; the only reason I didn't do it to Stan is because I recognized him."

Remus didn't get much of a chance to reply, however, as Kingsley and Hermione arrived. While Hermione was relieved to see Harry, Kingsley and Lupin pointed their wands at each other and exchanged a trust password between them.

Daphne, meanwhile, was still staring at George, and the bloody wound on his head where there had once been an ear. If they'd gotten attacked…what would happen to Mum and Dad?

"Ginny…you stay here with Harry and the others, okay? I'm going outside to wait for my parents…" she said.

Ginny gave her a sympathetic look and a quick kiss on the cheek, and then Daphne headed back outside into the cool night air.

Soon, Fred and Mr. Weasley Apparated in, but they barely had any eye for Daphne as they stormed past toward the house.

Then, however, clutching an empty carton of milk, Mum and Dad appeared in the darkness.

"Mum! Dad!" Daphne shouted, running over to them.

They both pulled her close to themselves in turn.

"Are the others back?!" Dad asked frantically.

"The Death Eaters were everywhere," Mum said. "And Mad-Eye…Mad-Eye is dead."

Daphne's blood ran cold. Moody dead?! "How?" she asked shakily.

"Voldemort," Mum said angrily. "Mundungus bailed and Voldemort shot a Killing Curse right into Mad-Eye's face from close range…it was just after we broke out of the encirclement, too, but there wasn't anything we could do…"

"I shot a Killing Curse back at him as we fled," Dad said, "but I missed by miles, and by then we had Death Eaters on our tail. I killed one and we lost the rest…Thank Merlin for your mother's flying skills."

"And for Dad's dueling, too," Mum added. "We make a good team," she said with a small smile. "Maybe we should get married."

Dad gave a small grin.

Mum quickly grew serious again, however. "Come on, let's get inside. We have a lot to talk about…"


Aside from Moody's death, the biggest thing that had happened during the escape was that Harry claimed his wand had performed magic he didn't even know when Voldemort was attacking him. Daphne seemed to be the only one willing to believe him, however, as everyone else just felt he'd used instinctive magic, and that his wand had nothing at all to do with it. She tried asking Dad about it, but even he didn't seem to think Harry's wand was important in the equation.

Harry, however, was convinced it had something to do with the twin cores his and Voldemort's wands shared, and Daphne saw no real reason not to believe him. Not that that helped Harry much, of course, as she knew nothing about wandlore, though Harry appreciated that she at least listened to him.

Sirius came by the next day. He hadn't been involved in the plan because Pius Thicknesse had sent him and a number of other Hit Wizards on several raids against suspected 'Death Eaters', all of whom turned out to be either innocent or involved with the Order of the Phoenix. Knowing this, Sirius had made sure to help all of them get away, before getting back to the Burrow.

When he learned of Moody's death, however, he was enraged that he hadn't been a part of the operation, even more so when he heard that Snape had been the one to curse off George's ear.

"I wanted to join in," he said to Harry and the others. "But Remus said that, as your godfather, I was more important than him, and that he'd do it instead. And once Moony decides to sacrifice himself, it's useless arguing with him. Besides, I knew Mad-Eye was in charge…I didn't think that idiot would go and get himself killed!"

Daphne smiled faintly when Sirius mentioned Remus's tendency to sacrifice himself for his friends, and Harry seemed to notice it too, because he gave her a small grin.

"It's fine, Sirius," Harry said. "Besides, you helped a lot of other innocent people avoid Azkaban, the way I hear it."

Sirius shrugged. "I should've been protecting you. But you made it, at least… You still can't tell me what Dumbledore wanted from you, I presume?"

Harry shook his head. "No. I'm sorry, but Dumbledore…"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sirius said frustratedly. "I just want to hex some Death Eaters…and Snape…if I ever see him again, I'm doing to him what everyone accused me of doing to Wormtail."

Daphne decided not to mention that Snape had had his reasons to kill Dumbledore, though she wasn't sure what his motive for blasting George's ear off had been. Even so, she was convinced that it hadn't been his intention. He'd been too adamant to tell her he was on the Order's side, and no reason at all to mislead her.


Moody's body wasn't recovered, as no one knew exactly where it had fallen — and it was, of course, possible the Death Eaters had found it first, in which case Moody might have become a new Inferius for Voldemort's army — so he never got a proper funeral, and when Harry's birthday came around — and Fleur's parents and sister had arrived for the wedding — the mood in the Burrow was still downcast.

Even so, Mrs. Weasley did everything in her power to make it a good birthday, something at which she succeeded so well that even Daphne complimented her on it, at least until Rufus Scrimgeour appeared. He turned out to have the contents of Dumbledore's will, and aside from Harry, Dumbledore had also bequeathed possessions to Hermione and Ron.

Daphne and Ginny didn't receive anything, and Daphne wondered if her Slytherin nature had been a reason for that. Alternatively, it could just be that, since she had her Divination, it wasn't as necessary to give her any additional information or cryptic hints, or perhaps she simply already knew everything Dumbledore felt she should.

What notably wasn't given to them was the sword of Gryffindor, even though Dumbledore had left it to Harry in his will. Of course, Dumbledore must, surely, have known the Minister would never have given them the sword, so Daphne dearly hoped he had a backup plan in place for them to receive it at some point. As for the other items, however…

"I open at the close?" Daphne said, studying the Snitch that Harry had received.

"I don't know what it means, either," Harry said.

They were all in the attic room, while everyone else in the house was already asleep.

"And the Deluminator doesn't seem to make much sense either," Ron said, clicking it repeatedly to put the lights out and back on again.

"And these stories," Hermione said, holding up her copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard. "I haven't even heard of them."

"You haven't heard of Beedle?" Ron asked, surprised.

"I haven't, either," Harry said.

"But…all the children's fairy tales are supposed to be his, aren't they?"

"Not in the Muggle world," Daphne said. "We've had Muggle fairy tales in Muggle Studies, and Beedle wasn't in there. They've got the Brothers Grimm, among others."

"What would Dumbledore want me to do with a book of fairy tales?" Hermione wondered.

"Maybe there's a code in it, or something?" Ginny said.

"I doubt it," Hermione said. "The Ministry wasn't able to find anything suspicious or dangerous about it, or they wouldn't have given it to me. But there must've been a reason…"

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out," Ginny said. Then she sighed heavily, looking as if whatever she wanted to say next was going to be painful.

Daphne got a very bad feeling.

"Hey, um, I've been thinking," Ginny said hesitantly. "And maybe…maybe it's better if I don't go with you. I mean…the Trace…"

"Don't be ridiculous," Daphne said immediately. "Of course you're coming with us." She looked at her friends for support.

"Well," Hermione said uncomfortably. "Maybe it is better…"

"We're going to have to use magic," Ron said apologetically.

Daphne shook her head incredulously and looked at Harry, who looked incredibly conflicted. "Are you…are you really sure about this?" he asked.

"Well, obviously I want to go with you…but…I'd only be holding you back, wouldn't I?" Ginny smiled humorlessly. "I'm sure I'll hear about your heroic deeds when I'm back at school."

"Come on, you can't be serious!" Daphne said. "Harry! Are you going to leave your girlfriend behind?"

"I don't want to, either!" Harry said. "But what else can we do? No one knows how to break the Trace, and as long as it's there, we–"

"I can't believe this," Daphne said, shaking her head in anger. "Are all of you just giving up that easily?"

"What do you suggest, then?!" Harry asked heatedly. "If you've got a miraculous solution, let's hear it. Look, Voldemort knew way more about our plans than we imagined, when he attacked us on our way here. Ginny is probably safer at Hogwarts than she is with us, and even if we find Horcruxes without using any magic, as long as we don't have the sword, we can't destroy them without magic, and we can't use that if Ginny still has the Trace."

He glared at Daphne angrily. "I hate it, just as much as you do, but we cannot afford to mess this up. I don't want anyone else to die, certainly not one of you. There's no other way."

Daphne didn't know what to say. Everything Harry had just said was true, but Daphne didn't want to accept it. She flat out refused to accept it, but she had no plans, no options, nothing. She wanted to throw something through the walls, and the pitying looks her friends, even Ginny, gave her, did nothing to quell her anger.

"Fine! Whatever! I just won't bother anymore, then…I'm going to bed," she said, and without another word, she got up and snuck down to Ginny's room.

She knew Ginny and Hermione would be joining her soon, but when they did, she pretended to be asleep. Of course, they knew she wasn't, as barely five minutes had passed, but they seemed to take the hint all the same and said nothing.

Daphne just lay staring into the darkness, her jaw clenched and her eyes burning, but she refused to let any tears fall, no matter how angry and disappointed she was. There was only one guilty person here, and that was Voldemort. And she fully intended to make him pay for it.

I wanted to put the wedding in this chapter as well, but this was too good a point to end the chapter, and it'll work just fine if I put it in the next one. My only regret is that now, I won't get to use my original chapter title 'A Wedding and No Funeral'.