Chapter 2

- Weightless -

"One... Two... Three!"

There was a mixture of sounds. The whooshing of brooms, the clip-clopping of Thestral hooves and leather wings extending. Teddy blinked through the cold wind whipping past his face, making his scruffy hair blow frantically over his eyes. He glasses threatened to fall off again and it took him a few seconds to get used to the movements of his Thestral.

In front of him he could see all eight other Harry Potters accompanied by their protectors. They were all flying upwards towards a large bloom of grey clouds, perfect for moving unnoticed.

Teddy looked beside him and saw Mad-Eye holding onto his broom tightly, watching his with his one blue eye, whatever little wisps of his hair were left blew left and right like grass on a windy day. The grey clouds, that reminded Teddy of smoke, grew closer and closer and darker and darker.

Mad-Eye flew forward, joining the others. Teddy gave his Thestral's sides as soft squeeze and the winged creature soared towards the front of the pack. Teddy flew beside his father, keeping Mad-Eye in view. He glanced at Remus who looked back, then Teddy realized his father probably wouldn't know it was him.

Forcing his gaze forward he got his head back in the game. The grey clouds were upon them and Teddy squinted his eyes, which were tearing up due to the cold wing blowing into them.

There was a loud yell and all at once his half-blurred vision was filled with colourful lights, mostly green. His hand flew to his wand tucked in his pocket and pointed it forward, blinking his eyes and giving him a good view of the terrifying scene before him. Hundreds upon thousands of Death Eaters were soaring down from above on brooms, throwing spells left and right, not caring if it hit their companions.

Teddy bent his back as his Thestral dived down, wings tucking slightly at its sides. "Stay with me, boy!" Mad-Eye flew past him on his broom and Teddy flew after him, struggling to stay on the creature's back.

A green spell was fired in his direction and the realization that he looked exactly like the Death Eater's target hit him like boulders. Mad-Eye was moving a rapid speeds and Teddy was barely able to keep up. "Damn, Mundungus! THE BLOODY COWARD!"

Teddy looked around and saw the Mundungus-Harry had disappeared into thin air.

"Look out!" Teddy threw spell after spell, not taking the time to aim. One of his spells hit a Death Eater, causing him to fall, stunned, to the earth below. Teddy's heart thumped when he saw how high up they were.

"This way!" Mad-Eye ordered and the two flew upwards, trying to hide in the clouds. Death Eaters were zooming after them, then one of them was beside Teddy reaching out for him with a dirty nailed hand. "Reducto!" The wizard fell off his broom disappearing in the clouds. "Confundus!" A witch blocked his spell and continued chasing him, two masked wizards at her side.

Teddy opened his mouth to cast another enchantment but his Thestral followed Mad-Eye into a sharp turn. Mad-Eye was still at Teddy's, white whips of light were flying from his wand, taking out hundreds of Death Eaters at once. Suddenly, something grabbed Teddy's arm. He pointed his wand right between the witch's eyes. "Stupefy!"

She let out a croaky scream. Teddy looked at Mad-Eye tersly. But before he could read the expression on the Auror's face, a horrifying green spell struck him and the large man plummeted to the ground. "No!"

He tugged at the Thestral's neck, trying to make it fly down to chase after the falling body, but the Thestral resisted his command flying in the opposite direction. "No! Go back! We have to get him!" He yelled. The Thestral turned its head so its completely white eye was staring back at him, reflecting Harry's face, with Teddy's terrified expression.

Bam!

"Guh!" Something sliced into Teddy's forehead, running down his cheek. The Death Eater soared over him, his face covered with a metal mask. He blinked, something was dripping in his eye and down his neck. His head felt numb and a dizzy sensation crept over him. He slumped forward on the Thestral's back, feeling his wand slipping from his loosening grip. "Expel... expellia..." His lips refused to form words.

The Death Eater was raising their wand. But at the last moment a fake-Harry flew past on his broomstick, only the Harry's Polyjuice potion was beginning to wear off. The Harry's hair changed colour and grew down to his shoulders, his face softened, his eyelashes lengthened and his green eyes flashed back to a beautiful blue.

The fake Harry, now fully transformed back into Arkie, pointed her wand and out came a colossal, bright creature. The creature roared running across the air and barreling into the Death Eater. Teddy's half closed eyes watched the animal in wonder. It was a large female grizzly bear. But that made no sense, Arkie's Patronus had been a sparrow the last time he'd seen it...

The Thestral flew away from the battle, sensing its rider's dizzy and weak state. It flew around a large storm of Death Eaters that had appeared in front of them sharply.

Teddy closed his eyes, it was too sickening to look at everything around him. His ears blocked, the way they would if he was on a plane and he couldn't feel nor see anything. It was as if someone had flicked the off switch on the world.

His thoughts began to wander and for a second he could barely remember what it was he had been doing. Some of his senses came back to him, the fight raged on in the distance. But he felt light, weightless, like he was flying through the air, soaring away from the battle. His heart rose to his throat. Suddenly, there was a shrill cry in the distance and he snapped out of his senseless trance.

He wasn't flying at all... he was falling!

Teddy had fallen before, but nothing higher than a few feet off the ground. He'd expected the experience to be terrifying. He expected to see his life flash before his eyes, his heart rising to his throat blocking off his screams. But it wasn't like that at all.

He didn't scream, nor did his heart bang like a drum. He still felt just as weightless as before, but it was almost soothing. His mind went completely blank and he didn't even think about casting a spell with the wand in his hand, possibly due to his mild concussion cause by whatever curse was flung in his direction.

"Oof!" He landed on something, but it wasn't the ground. Whatever he had fallen on was alive and moving. He blinked, forcing himself to snap out of his confused trance once more. His green eyes stared at the broad, leathery-skinned back of the Thestral. All the wind had been pushed from his stomach and he gasped to fill his lungs again and struggled to pull himself into sitting position.

The two didn't return to the battle, instead the flew off in the direction of the Burrow.