August 3rd, 1995
Sirius and I woke up early the next morning. He was awake before me, in the shower already by the time my eyes opened; he had taken the day off of work so that we could spend the day with Harry. We'd decided late last night that it wouldn't be good for him to be alone today, not after last night. Sirius had also had the foresight to borrow Moody's invisibility cloak so that we could get in to Privet Drive without the Ministry knowing about it – they'd questioned why he needed the day off, and he'd told them I had a doctor's appointment that he needed to be present for. Luckily, Dad was also a member of the Order – although he worked primarily behind the scenes – and was willing to lie for us if anyone came snooping around.
I rolled out of bed with a groan, putting my feet in to slippers to combat the chilly floorboards that haunted this house. I looked around at Sirius's room, particularly at the posters of half-naked girls and rolled my eyes. I wish I had more time to redecorate, but our attention had primarily been occupied by ridding the house of the various pests that had taken up residency. I hoped we weren't here long enough to warrant total redecorating, but the way things were looking it seemed entirely possible, if not probable.
I took my wand out and cast a warming spell, sighing as the warmth reached my frozen toes. I heard the shower turn off. Sirius came out of the bathroom, long, dark hair dripping, wearing nothing but a towel hung low across his hips. I followed the path of a lone water droplet, making it's way down towards the deep v of Sirius's hipbone. My brain kicked in to overdrive, thinking dirty thoughts.
Sirius seemed to catch my drift, as if he could see where my mind was heading. He struck a ridiculous pose, sticking his front leg out as far in front of him as he could. "See something you like, kitten?" He asked in a ridiculous voice.
"Ugh, not anymore," I chuckled, throwing a pillow at him. He caught it easily and dropped it on the armchair at the foot of the bed. He jumped back in to bed with me, pulling me roughly to his chest and kissing all over my face.
"Good morning. How are you feeling?" He asked in to my shoulder.
"Good," I said simply, kicking my feet at Sirius, trying to get him off of me.
"And how is Spud?" He asked, putting his ear up to my stomach.
"Hungry," I said, running my fingers through his wet hair. He turned his cheek and pressed a kiss to my stomach before rolling out of bed again and making his way over to his closet. The two of us dressed quickly and quietly, then made our way down to the kitchen. Kreacher was loitering in the hallway.
"What are you doing, eh?" Sirius asked suspiciously, eyeing the house elf.
"Kreacher is cleaning, Master," Kreacher said brightly, before continuing in a mumble, as though we couldn't hear him. "Cleaning the house that my esteemed Mistress left behind, which is being used by mudbloods and blood traitors like a floo spot…oh my poor Mistress, what would she say if she could see the filth that besmirches her house."
"Don't you fucking use that word around here," Sirius roared, staying mindful to the fact that being too loud would wake up the portrait of his mother.
"As you wish, Master," Kreacher said. "Blood traitor heir that you are."
I grabbed Sirius' arm to stop the smack that I knew was coming. I had no love lost for Kreacher, but honestly the telling off we would both get from Hermione if she heard would be punishment past what I could handle – it was better to avoid the situation altogether. "Kreacher, go."
"Yes, Mistress," Kreacher said before rushing up the rest of the steps. He never insulted me, probably because I came from a pure blood family, and hadn't been labeled a blood traitor by his mistress before she died. Although, how much the woman had known about me, I wouldn't know. I had never met her.
We continued down to the kitchen, Sirius guiding me gently with a hand on the back. Molly and Remus were both already awake, sitting down and enjoying a cup of tea.
"Morning, Blacks," Molly said brightly. She made to get up, but I waved her off. I went over to the kettle and waved my wand, boiling the water instantly. I took down two cups and made tea for Sirius and myself, while Sirius buttered toast for us. I sat down next to Molly as Sirius slid in next to Remus.
"Morning, Arthur off to work already?" I asked, able to talk now that I had had my first sip of morning tea. I took a bite of toast, which Sirius had just slid in front of me.
"Yes, he got called in to a call early this morning. He apologizes for not being able to come and get Harry with you, but they've been working him very hard lately," Molly said sadly. "Honestly, I think Fudge is just trying to keep him away from home as much as possible."
"Yeah, he's been trying that with me too," Sirius said, nodding his head in agreement. "Jokes on him; I'm only going in still to keep an eye on things. I couldn't give a rat's arse about the Ministry – not after their response to this whole thing."
"Fudge still has his head up his arse, then?" Remus asked, shooting an apologetic look to Molly for his language.
"Yep." Sirius popped his p. "Going around spouting that he thinks Harry is a crackpot, that Voldemort isn't back, and that nothing unusual is going on. Meanwhile, we're bringing people in left and right who are clearly operating under Voldemort and being told that they're just run of the mill criminals."
"It's ghastly," I said suddenly, having just taken a bite of toast.
"I know, kitten, it's a right pile of horse–," Sirius agreed sternly.
"No," I said quickly, cutting him off and covering my mouth. "I mean the toast." I rushed over to the sink and got sick, heaving up the entire contents of my stomach. Sirius had rushed over with me, when he realized what was happening, and was holding my hair back while rubbing my back.
"Okay, kitten?" He asked me when I stopped heaving.
"This morning sickness is terrible," I said, embarrassed that Molly and Remus had seen me get sick.
"Oh, tell me about it," Molly said, waving her wand and vanishing the mess in the sink. "I was so sick with the twins I told Arthur he wasn't allowed to touch me ever again…"
"That worked out well for you," Sirius barked, laughing as he finished rubbing my back gently. "Although I guess you really wanted that girl, huh?"
"I did," Molly said good-naturedly. "Arthur never was any good at telling me no," she said with a smirk.
"Come on, Mum!" Ginny said from the doorway. "I just woke up and now I feel sick to my stomach," she said with a grin.
"Oh, hush," Molly said, turning bright red. "Eggs?"
"Yes, please!" Ginny said happily, sitting down in a chair and looking at Sirius and I, as we were still hunched over the sink. "What's up with you lot?"
"Sick," I said simply. I did a quick charm to freshen up my breath before returning back to the table. I sat down across from her, and decided to take the time to address her and Hollyn; I hadn't had time to talk to her away from Hollyn, but I wanted to see how she felt about the whole situation. Sirius and Remus struck up a conversation about the newest article in the Daily Prophet, giving me the perfect opportunity to talk.
"Hey, Gin, can I talk to you?" She hummed her agreement through a mouthful of eggs that had magically appeared in front of her; Molly had placed them down in front of her and had left to go round up the rest of the kids. "What was going on with Hollyn this year? She kept saying that you two were fighting, but you don't really seem to be fighting. Is she okay?"
Ginny looked up from her eggs and pushed her long red hair behind her ear. She swallowed daintily before speaking. "Hollyn…had a difficult year." She said finally.
"Difficult how?" I pressed.
Ginny sighed, looking behind her to make sure she no one was coming down the stairs before continuing. "She was acting really weird, ever since the World Cup. I thought she was just processing, you know, so I gave her time, didn't press her. I made some new friends, and I would invite her to hang out with us, but she would always come up with an excuse. She was busy, she had homework, she was tired. She was always missing though – I could never find her; it was like she had simply disappeared from the castle altogether. A week before the final task I sat her down and asked if she was having trouble processing what had happened at the cup – you know, since she felt like she was missing something. I tried to talk to her about what happened my first year, and how I was missing chunks of time so I knew how it felt; she completely went off on me though. Told me I didn't understand anything and that I was always so busy with my own friends that I clearly didn't care either. I'll be honest Aunt Addie, that really pissed me off. I didn't know what she was going through? I was possessed by You-Know-Who! I know better than anyone what it feels like to go through something traumatic."
"Hmmm…" I said slowly. "She did tell me and Sirius that she felt like you were making friends, while she was having a hard time doing the same. But it seems like you really did try to include her in everything and she brushed you off. I wonder why she tried to make us believe it was the other way around…"
"I think she's really going through a lot. I know she loves you, and Sirius, and Harry, but you have to know it's a lot to handle. And she was really worried about Harry all year."
We heard pounding coming down the stairs. The rest of the brood was up. "You'll watch her for me, right? I'm worried about her."
"Of course, Aunt Addie. I know Harry keeps an eye on her too."
"Thanks, Gin," I said gratefully, winking at my favorite niece. Hey! Louisa couldn't talk yet and Cerise wasn't technically my niece – it wasn't a fair competition. Although, I guess Ginny also wasn't technically my niece. Whatever, it was too early to think about this.
Fred, George and Ron came barreling downstairs, digging in to the platters of food that Molly had placed down without me even noticing. If I hadn't known it was impossible to conjure food out of midair, I would have sworn Molly hadn't even cooked. Hermione and Hollyn came down as well, though in a much more refined manner than the boys had.
"Orning, 'mione, 'ollyn," Ron said thickly, his mouth overflowing with hash.
"Really, Ronald," Hermione scolded with a sheepish glance towards the end of the table where all of the adults sat. To her horror, however, Sirius, Remus and I were cackling at Ron's childishness; only Molly shared in her revulsion.
"Morning, Mom," Hollyn said, sitting down next to Ginny and piling eggs on to her plate. "Morning, Sirius."
"Morning, pup!" Sirius said brightly. He filled up her glass with pumpkin juice, and she thanked him and took a big sip. "How'd you sleep."
"Good, thanks. What time are you leaving for Harry's?" She asked, wasting no time, her big eyes round as she looked up at her father.
"Soon," I replied. "Once we're done breakfast."
"You'll be careful, right? You won't do anything foolish? I have a bad feeling about all of this," she asked, a touch of desperation entering her tone. She picked at her cuticle, which she only did when she was worried.
"Course we will," Sirius assured her brightly. "It'll be easy as pie, pup. Nothing to worry about. We'll be back before dinner."
"Promise?" She asked hopefully.
"I promise." He said solemnly. The conversation dropped there, and before we knew it, we were cleaned up from breakfast. Molly had sent the kids upstairs to clean out the wardrobe on the fourth floor, and Sirius and I were getting our brooms out of the hallway closet in preparation of our flight to Privet Drive.
"Mom?" I heard from behind me.
I turned, broom in hand, to see Hollyn standing at the bottom of the stairs, her shoulders tense and an apprehensive expression on her face. "Hollyn, relax. We'll be fine, okay?"
"Okay," she agreed, although I could tell she was lying. Sirius hugged her tightly and kissed the top of her head before he pulled away reluctantly and walked in to the backyard. I pulled her in to my arms, noting that she didn't hug me as tightly as she had Sirius.
"We really will be okay, Hol. Your father never breaks a promise."
"Really?" She asked, eyes wide and full of hope.
"Really," I confirmed. I kissed her cheek and squeezed her tight one last time before pushing her towards the stairs. "Now go and help the lot upstairs or they'll say we're playing favorites because we own the house." She turned and starting taking the stairs, looking over her shoulder the entire time. I met Sirius outside; he was looking up at the sky judging the flying conditions. It was fairly overcast, which was good for us – we wouldn't have to fly as high in to the clouds to avoid being seen.
"She okay?" Sirius asked, determining that the conditions were decent and catching my eye.
I nodded. "Yeah. She's mostly worried about you; the prat," I joked. Sirius laughed, although his laugh was mostly hollow.
He grabbed hold of my hands and looked at me seriously. "You'll be careful, right? If it gets dangerous, promise me you'll apparate away."
"No." I said stubbornly. "I'm not running. Not this time. If things get dangerous, you take Harry and you leave."
"Not a chance in hell," he said, heatedly, his voice rising.
"Then I guess we both die, because I refuse to run ever again. Look what good that did us last time? Harry ended up with the Dursley's, you ended up in Azkaban, and I ended up alone raising an infant. You don't get to make me hide this time."
Sirius surveyed me for a moment, before nodding once. "Fine. We protect Harry at all costs." I nodded in agreement, and leaned in to kiss him.
"Don't do anything stupid, trying to protect me or Harry; don't forget you have a daughter who will be crushed if you don't come home," I said sternly.
"Don't do anything stupid to protect me or Harry," Sirius echoed. "Don't forget that you're carrying my baby."
"Deal," I nodded, and he did the same. He leaned down and kissed me again before mounting his broom. He pulled on the invisibility cloak, and I cast a disillusionment charm on myself; although it was overcast, we wanted to be careful that neither of us would be seen – either by Death Eaters or any muggles.
"Ready?" He asked. I nodded again and mounted my own broom, pushing off the ground and rising in to the gloomy sky.
The journey was relatively long, and the higher we went, the colder it got, even in the heat of the summer. My fingers were icy and frozen to my broom handle by the time we saw the cookie-cutter shape of the houses on Privet Drive. I gestured towards the one that I believed to be the Dursley's and Sirius gave me the thumbs up to signal that he understood before angling his broom down. We touched down in the backyard, but not before I noted that the driveway was empty; it appears the Dursley's did take Sirius's threat to leave the house seriously. I dismounted and followed Sirius, who had taken off the invisibility cloak and walked to the back-greenhouse door. He was knocking with purpose on the glass door.
"I don't think anyone saw us, do you?" He asked over his shoulder.
"No, I think we're fine. Come on, we have to get inside before anyone sees us," I said, pushing past him and unlocking the door with a wave of my wand. I pushed open the door and walked inside, calling hesitantly, "Harry?"
"Son?" Sirius said, joining me in the living room. "Harry, you here?"
Harry was nowhere to be seen. Sirius had wandered over to the pictures on the mantlepiece – all photos on Dudley. "Merlin, it looks like my house," he said with a shake of his head. "My mother only displayed photos of Regulus after I 'disgraced the family' by being sorted in to Gryffindor."
"Your mother was a right bitch," I said offhandedly, just thinking about all of the psychological torment that woman had put him through, as I wandered in to the kitchen looking for Harry.
"Just when I think I couldn't love you anymore," he said, staring at me in amazement.
I blushed. Although we had been together for so many years, he never failed to make me feel giddy when he complimented me; he was so bloody charming it was hard to resist. I chastised myself; we were here for Harry, not on a date.
"He's not down here," Sirius said, pointing out the obvious.
I frowned and walked to the front hallway. I looked up the stairs, as though he would be sitting at the top of them waiting for us. "Harry?" I called loudly, thinking he maybe hadn't heard us. I paused for a moment, but when I heard nothing my heart started racing. "Do you think something happened to him?" I asked Sirius frantically.
Sirius thought for a minute, before taking the steps quickly, two at a time. I followed him, surprised. He paused outside Harry's bedroom door and said, loudly, "No, I think he's being a prat." As he spoke, he pushed open the door to reveal Harry, laying in his bed and staring up at the ceiling.
Harry's room was a mess – there were robes and broken quills littering the ground. He had a stack of newspapers lining his desk, books hanging out of his trunk, and what I prayed to be clean underwear stacked on his desk chair. The only thing that looked like it had been cleaned lately was Hedwig's cage – thank Merlin. Harry turned his head to look at us, surprise showing clearly on his face.
"I didn't think you guys were actually coming," he said coldly. I glanced at Sirius, not having expected the anger radiating from Harry's every word; Sirius had been an angry teenager, so maybe he could handle this better than I could.
"Here we are!" Sirius said, spreading his arms out wide. "Just like I said we would be."
Harry looked at us for a while, before rolling over so that his feet were on the ground instead of on the bed. "About time," he said bitterly.
"Hey now," Sirius said jovially, sitting down next to Harry on the bed. "I'm sorry it's taken us so long, but we're here now."
"We're really sorry, Harry. We wanted to come get you right away, but it hasn't been safe," I said, walking towards the bed. Harry looked at me, a cold look in his eyes. "Believe us, we never wanted you to have to spend more than one night here."
"Whatever," Harry muttered, dropping his gaze to his knees. "Are we getting out of here or what?"
"We have to wait for the others," Sirius said.
"They're coming tonight!" I said quickly, seeing the disbelief on Harry's face. "We wanted to come early so that you weren't alone. And you can ask us some questions without Molly around…"
"You're with the Weasleys?" Harry asked, looking up sharply.
"Yeah," Sirius said. "The whole crew has been with us on and off the entire summer. They moved in officially last week. Hermione arrived shortly after."
"So you've all been together, having a great time, while I sat here alone," Harry deadpanned. He got up out of bed and walked over to the window, as far away from us as he could. He crossed his arms as he stared down at the street.
"Son, I know you're angry," Sirius began, but Harry whirled around suddenly, his face beet red.
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HOW I FEEL," he screamed, the sudden sound permeating the almost still silence of the entire neighborhood. I flinched at the noise. "AND NONE OF YOU HAVE BOTHERED TO ASK."
"Harry, we really are sorry," I said calmly. "But we were trying to protect you. Who knows who could have intercepted our letters, if we had told you anything important?"
"AND YET, I WAS STILL ATTACKED, WASN'T I? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE DEMENTORS WERE ATTACKING DUDLEY AND ME? PROTECTING ME FROM THE COMFORT OF A NICE WARM HOME?"
I took a step back; I had never been good with screaming, not that there were many occasions in my life for explosive anger. It brought back memories of Jase – memories of him yelling at me before assaulting me. Memories of what he did to me. I felt myself shutting down before I even realized I was doing it, shrinking down to the smallest version of myself. I didn't like anger. I didn't like the noise. I hadn't felt this way in a long time. I hated people being angry at me; people did bad things when they were angry.
"First of all, Harry, stop yelling at Addie. I mean that," Sirius said sternly, breaking through the pervasive thoughts that had entered my head. He waited for Harry to calm down slightly, which he did immediately when he looked over at me cowering in the corner. His face softened and he walked over shakily before sitting back down on the bed. "You don't know how many nights she sat up worrying about you this summer. You don't have to like our decision, I know I sure as hell wouldn't have, but you don't have to bite our heads off."
"Sorry, Addie," Harry muttered in to his knees. "I'm just so… angry. All the time. I don't know what to do with it."
"Talk to us," I said earnestly, coming forward and sitting on the top of his trunk. I put my hands on his knees, which he was still staring at as though the answers to his Potions OWL were written on it. "Ask us questions. Let us fill you in. But please don't shout again."
Harry shot me a guilty look, and paused for a moment before the words came spilling out of his mouth. "What's been going on? Where is Voldemort? What is he doing? What have you guys been doing?"
Sirius spent a good portion of the afternoon answering Harry's questions, perhaps revealing more information than he probably should have; he definitely revealed more than Molly would have tolerated. Even I smacked his arm when he revealed there was a weapon we were guarding, and the look on my face was enough to get Sirius to shut up. Sirius shot me a look that clearly said "but I want to tell him more" and I raised my eyebrows at him. He sighed and got up off the bed, cracking his back once he was on his feet.
"Alright son, if I tell you any more Addie's pregnancy hormones are going to kick in; not a pretty sight, trust me," he said to Harry who looked like he wanted to argue.
"But, what is this weapon? How does he know about it? What does it do?" Harry argued anyway, looking between Sirius and I desperately.
"Sorry, Harry. That really is enough for now," I said. I glanced out the window and noticed that the sun had started setting. I looked at my watch and realized that the rest of the Advanced Guard would be arriving within the next hour. "How about we go and raid the Dursley's fridge and make supper?"
Harry opened his mouth, to argue again, but closed it when he saw the no-nonsense expression on my face. I guess the pregnancies hormones do make me look more intimidating. "Okay," he agreed. "But we're not going to find anything edible in there."
I waved my wand, packing all of Harry's stuff neatly in his trunk; Molly had managed to teach me some tricks, after all. We made our way downstairs, Sirius bringing up the rear and levitating Harry's trunk; he was fascinated by the porcelain figurines that Petunia had on shelves throughout the hallway and dawdled longer than I was comfortable with. I'm pretty sure he planted a dungbomb somewhere along the way, but I really couldn't find it within myself to care.
I opened the fridge door. The top shelf held a ton of greens – lettuce, kale, broccoli, and cabbage. The middle shelf held two grapefruit and a pear. That was it.
"Phew," Sirius whistled. "You weren't kidding about this diet, eh?"
"Not that it's making much of a difference – what Dudley lost in fat, he picked up in muscle. He still looks like a baby whale," Harry said bitterly. Now that I saw in the lights of the kitchen, I noticed that he did look skinnier than he had when we had met him at King's Cross at the beginning of the summer. I would have to make sure that we got a good meal in to him soon.
"No matter," I said loftily. "We'll make dinner at home. I'm sure Molly would be besides herself if I took that away from her, now I think about it. The rest of the lot should be here soon, anyway. And you know how angry Moody will be if we delay him even one minute."
"Moody's coming?" Harry asked, surprised.
"Of course," I said.
"Kingsley too – he's one of the top aurors. Plus my baby cousin, Nymphadora Tonks – she's an auror too."
"Don't call her Nymphadora, though," I warned Harry. "She can be downright scary when she's angry." I shuddered, remembering the time Remus had said it absentmindedly; the look she had shot him had been downright venomous. I'd assume they worked it out in the bedroom later, which I'm sure Remus thoroughly enjoyed. Sirius had actually been the one to notice the tension between the two, and once he had pointed it out to me it was as obvious as the sun rising. They were always sneaking off together to "check on things" and volunteering to be on the same missions; I'm guessing the adrenaline helped kickstart their libidos. It was nice seeing Remus happy, even though he was likely to self-sabotage soon.
As Sirius was telling Harry all about how Tonks was a metamorphmagus, and chuckling about how she frequently entertained the girls by changing her nose at dinner, I walked over to the front window. The lights had gone out suddenly; Moody must have borrowed Dumbledore's deluminator.
"They're early," I called over my shoulder.
"Shit," Sirius said, clapping a chuckling Harry on the shoulder. "Good thing we're ready."
I walked over to the front door and pulled out my wand. I threw the door open to see Moody standing there, fist drawn as he had just been about to knock. "Evening, Alastor," I said pleasantly, stepping back so he and the rest of the group could enter the house. "Come on in."
Moody growled, upset that we had known they were there, but he walked inside anyway. He had pulled his own wand out and was pointing it at me. "How do I know you're Addison Black?"
Sirius and Harry had come in to the front hallway now and taken in the scene in front of them. "Oi, why are you pointing a wand at my wife?" He said angrily, rushing over and pushing me behind him.
"How'd you know we were outside?" Moody rebutted gruffly. "We even came early to throw you off!"
"The lights, Moody," I said, rolling my eyes. "I noticed when all of the lights went out."
Remus stepped forward, putting his hand on Moody's arm, forcing him to lower his wand. "Addie, why did Sirius kiss you for the first time?"
I blushed, embarrassed that this was the security question Remus decided to use. "When he found out that I had known you were a werewolf for years," I said quietly.
"You told him that?" Sirius asked me, laughing.
"I was drunk!" I protested, crossing my arms, My face was burning bright red as the rest of the group, minus Moody, chattered about how cute that was. Tonks in particular was making a big deal out of it, her hair having turned a light pink, which I knew it did when she was feeling sentimental.
"Alright, that's enough," Moody barked. The chatter died out. "Did you confirm the boy's identity?"
"No," I admitted, realizing that Sirius and I probably should have done that.
"No need," Sirius spoke up. "I knew it was him."
"How could you have possibly known it was him?" I asked incredulously.
"I could smell him. Can't fake your scent, not even with Polyjuice potion." He said it like it was common knowledge, as though we were all stupid for not thinking of it before.
There was silence within the group as we all stared at each other in shock; my mouth was open. My husband was an animagus, and I never thought about the fact that he could smell me before. Remus cleared his throat after a while and said calmly, "That's why I usually just ask a security question. It's…more polite than telling someone that you can smell them."
We all let that comment sit for a moment in uncomfortable silence, before Moody cleared his throat and said, "let's move in to the kitchen."
We followed him in to the kitchen, waiting as he cleaned his magical eye in a glass of water. "We're waiting for a signal from the backup guard," he explained to Sirius and I. "Should be coming any minute now. Potter," he barked, scaring Harry slightly. "You have your wand? Your broom?"
Harry patted his back pocket. "Yeah, wands here. Broom is right there," he said, pointing towards his broom which was in the corner leaning against a wall.
"Don't keep your wand in your back pocket!" Moody barked loudly. Harry definitely jumped this time. "Better wizards than you have lost buttocks that way!"
Tonks guffawed and laughed. "Who in the name of Merlin do you know that has blown off a buttocks?"
"Never you mind," he said sternly. "Point is, never keep your wand in your back pocket; basic wand safety."
"There's the signal," Kingsley said in his slow, deep voice. I glanced out the window and saw a bright green light, almost like a firework, go off in the distance. "We're good to go."
The guard walked outside, Tonks levitating Harry's trunk and Hedwig's cage, but Sirius pulled Harry aside just as he was about to walk through the garden door. "Listen, son," he began. "You're going to be very well protected tonight. The guard has a plan – if anything happens, you follow Tonks until you reach the safe house. If Tonks is killed, the reserve guard is waiting in the wings to take over."
"Sirius and I," I continued. "We have a different plan. If things are dire – and I mean, really dire, you find whichever one of us is closest and we apparate away."
"Why aren't we just apparating then?" he asked, his brows furrowed.
"They're tracking us," Sirius said simply. "Not safe. But if we have to, we will. We'll apparate to Oak House and make our way to the safe house from there. Stay alert. Stay near Addie or me. Let's go."
We joined the rest of the group outside, kicking off the ground a few tense seconds later. Sirius caught my eye as we rose, mouthing "I love you" to me. I flew in to the dark sky, Harry to my right, Sirius behind me, and prayed that nothing would go wrong.
