Audrey Potter's Prelude

by sphinxs-legend

A series of one-shots from the moments we don't get to see of Audrey Potter in her story: Green Eyed Monster. WARNING: Some chapters may contain spoilers from later installments of Green Eyed Monster.

11. August 1st, 1997

August 1st, 1997

Harry didn't understand how everything had happened so quickly. He had heard Kingsley's warning and heard the chaos begin, but he hadn't expected there to be so little time before the crowd of people became rabid. No one cared about anyone else anymore, they all just wanted to get out – he couldn't blame them; he knew they had to get out before the Death Eaters came, before they had any chance to catch them and find all the information and connections they'd discovered about Voldemort's Horcruxes.

There was no part of him that had ever thought about leaving Audrey behind. One minute she was there, running towards them and attacking a Death Eater who had attacked them, and the next Hermione was tugging his arm through that tight pipe that crushed him and took all his breath away. It was a long moment before he felt cool, night air hitting his face. He looked around, not understanding his surroundings – there were no Death Eaters, there was no fighting, and there was no Audrey.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" He raged immediately, watching as tears filled Hermione's eyes.

"Please, keep your voice down."

"We should go back," Harry decided instantly. Hermione grabbed his arm again.

"No, we shouldn't. Apparating back now would be even more dangerous than when we left; they'll have figured out it was you by now. We'll have to wait to meet up with her."

"We shouldn't have to wait at all," Harry reminded her, his voice rising angrily. "WE SHOULDN'T HAVE JUST LEFT HER THERE!"

"There was a Death Eater coming for us, Harry," she tried to justify, even if her voice was strained as she fought to speak through her tears. "Didn't you see who it was?"

"No," Harry growled, perfectly frustrated. "We could have taken him – there were three, no, four of us-"

"It was Snape," Hermione corrected, "and you hardly even noticed him...but he noticed us. We had to move before he sounded the alarm."

"But that doesn't mean we had to just leave Audrey behind!" He shook his head, his scar still pulsing under the guise of Barny's skin. "What if she doesn't get away like we did?"

"She will," Ron said easily. "Audrey always gets away – it's what she's good at, mate."

"We'll find a place for her to meet up with us," Hermione promised.

"She won't want to," Harry was sure of this. He knew it like he knew anything else about her: because she had always been that rough around the edges and she never would have forgiven something like this. Not from anyone. For someone like Audrey, who could be so afraid of herself and of everything else...she didn't usually run away from those fears. Especially not from Harry. Not like he'd just run away from her.

"We'll deal with all that later," Ron muttered. "Where are we?"

Harry hated the way he'd said it; the way he had emphasized the fact that Audrey wasn't with them. Still, he couldn't help but look around him – they were in the middle of the street and it was the first time that he noticed they weren't alone. People were passing by and looking at them strangely and it took Harry a second to remember that where they had left Audrey had been at a wedding – a wizarding wedding, no less – so they were dressed in a way that drew a lot of attention.

"Tottenham Court Road," Hermione said tightly, still sounding upset. "We should walk, just walk...we need to find somewhere for you to change."

Though Harry was still angry, he did as Hermione said. Every step he took felt like a step he should have been spinning on his heel to Apparate with – but he never did. Ron was right: all Drea did was escape from messy scenarios...he hoped that this wouldn't be an exception. Harry hadn't really noticed when it had gotten dark – he was sure that it had been sunset not long before the Death Eaters had arrived, but now there were stars twinkling above them, keeping them in low light so only the pub-goers that were outside on the dry patio could ogle them.

"Hermione, we haven't got anything to change into," Ron mentioned lightly.

"Audrey took the Invisibility Cloak two days ago," Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "She said she was going to help pack it. All last year I kept it on me and now-"

"It's okay, she gave the cloak to me so I could pack it. I've also got clothes for both of you," Hermione explained, not turning to face him. He suspected she might still be tearful. "Just try and act naturally until...this will do."

She made a quick turn, heading down a side street and then taking another turn to hide in the shadows of an abandoned alleyway. Harry, not understanding how he could be struggling to keep up while she was in heels, took a moment to understand what she meant.

"Why would Audrey give the cloak to you? And how do you have it?" He eyed the small beaded bag warily, as she rummaged through it as if she was looking through shelves on a library.

"Yes, they're here," as if she had conjured them, Hermione pulled out a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt and finally the silvery Invisibility Cloak. "Audrey worried that one of her potions may spill on it in her own bag, though why she refused to part with the Map for that very reason, I don't understand-"

"I don't understand," Ron corrected. "How the ruddy hell did you-"

"Undetectable Extension Charm," she explained quickly. "Tricky, but I think I've done it okay; Audrey had some of the things, but I'm sure we'll manage with everything I put in here," she gave the little bag as little of a shake and it sounded like some sort of landslide ensued within it. "Oh, damn, that'll be the books...and I had them all stacked by subject. Oh well. Harry, you'd better take the Invisibility Cloak. Ron, hurry up and change..."

"When did you do all this?" Harry asked as they began to take off their dress robes; Hermione didn't even seem fazed by this.

"I told you at the Burrow, I've had the essentials packed for days, you know, in case we needed to make a quick getaway. Audrey packed your rucksack this morning, Harry – she'd left it in Ginny's room so I put it in here. I just had a feeling..."

"You're amazing, you are," Ron smiled, handing her his robes. Harry didn't agree, besides the charm itself there was nothing there he felt good about – Audrey had been the one to pack his things and it was somehow in Hermione's bag because she 'had a feeling'? Did Audrey know about this feeling before she was left at the raid alone?

"Thank you," Hermione barely managed a smile as she started putting their robes in the beaded bag. "Please, Harry, get that Cloak on!"

Harry tossed the Invisibility cloak over his head and let the frustration he knew was colouring his face vanish from their sight. He shook his head under it, swearing silently for a moment as he tried to vent out his frustration in a healthier way.

"What about everyone else, at the wedding..."

"We can't worry about that now," Hermione whispered. "It's you they're after, Harry, and we'll just put everyone in even more danger by going back."

"They're after Audrey too," Harry reminded her. She looked down guiltily, but Ron didn't seem as upset by the truth of it.

"What did I tell you? Audrey can slither her way out of anything," Ron reminded just as brusquely. "Besides, Hermione's right: most of the Order was there, they'll look after everyone."

"Yeah," Harry said after a moment, though he knew his face looked much different than his voice sounded. Between his sister being left there and Ron's sister not being able to fight back without alerting the Ministry thanks to the Trace, he felt like he was hiding rather than running away to find a way to defeat Voldemort.

"Come on, I think we ought to keep moving," Hermione said simply. If Harry was going to stay and not go back, he figured after seeing what she'd done that she had more of a plan than he did. He kept moving with his friends, the three moving back up the side street so that they could get back to Tottenham Court Road. There were still people walking up and down the street and Harry had to dodge to avoid bumping into a few of them. Across the street, a group of drunk men were singing and weaving across the walk; it amazed Harry that people could not know the dangers of being out on the street. That Muggles didn't know at any moment a Death Eater could be bored and decide to kill them for fun...

"Just as a matter of interest, why Tottenham Court Road?" Ron asked Hermione as they continued walking up the street.

"I've no idea, it just popped into my head, but I'm sure we're safer out in the Muggle world, it's not where they'll expect us to be." Harry could just imagine that Audrey would be telling her the exact opposite; that they should hide somewhere in plain sight so that they could blend with the crowd...he doubted that Hermione had all the Polyjuice potion that Audrey had made and stored – especially when he remembered that Audrey had been worried potions would 'spill' onto his Cloak. Maybe hiding out in plain sight, somewhere obvious was out of the question without it.

"But don't you feel a bit – exposed?" Ron asked.

"Where else is there?" Hermione asked, shrinking away from the side of the road as the drunk men started whistling and calling to her. "We can hardly book rooms at the Leaky Cauldron, can we? And Grimmauld Place is out if Snape can get in there...I suppose we could try my parents' home, though I think there's a chance they might check there. Oh, I wish they'd shut up!"

"All right, darling?" one of the drunk men continued to yell. "Fancy a drink? Ditch ginger and come and have a pint!"

"Let's sit down somewhere," Hermione interrupted Ron right before he was about to answer the drunk man for her. "Look, this will do, in here!"

It was nothing impressive, just a small night café that was decorated in an unhealthy dusting of grease and grime. There was no one in any of the seats and Ron lingered at the opening of a booth for a moment so that Harry could slide in first. Ron closed the gap between them which left Hermione having her back to the door. This seemed to bother her even more than a single spelling error on an essay, considering she couldn't stop checking over her shoulder as if to make sure there was nothing else she was missing.

Harry didn't like that they were sitting. If he was sitting that meant that there was time for him to go back to the Burrow to make sure that Audrey, that Ginny, that Sirius were all safe...but he knew it would be detrimental now more than ever: the Polyjuice potion was wearing off quickly. He could see his hands moving back to their own shape and reached into his pockets when he realized that his vision was starting to go. He knew this meant that Audrey had run out of time as well – as he recalled, Fred had brought her dose of potion before Ron had even set out with his. She might be fighting Death Eaters as herself...a thought he immediately tried to drown by rubbing at his scar and focusing on the odd mixture of pain and relief it brought his aching head.

"You know," Ron said slowly after a moment. "We're not far from the Leaky Cauldron here, it's only in Charing Cross..."

"Ron, we can't!" Hermione said quickly.

"Not to stay there," he defended, "but to find out what's going on!"

"We know what's going on! Voldemort's taken over the Ministry, what else do we need to know?"

What they needed to know was if everyone was okay; at least Harry did. His sister wasn't very good with wandwork and with all those different Death Eaters attacking from every direction, she wouldn't be able to rely solely on her Magnuse. As for Ginny, who still had the Trace, she would be protected by the other Weasleys – but who knew how they were faring right now. Harry completely understood why Ron was so desperate for information...he was also surprised that Hermione wasn't. He'd known that his friends had never seen eye-to-eye with his sister, particularly Ron, but to not be scared for her? For them? He'd always thought she'd be sentimental towards Harry's last living blood relative.

The waitress came over, unamused and ready to shoo them out as quickly as they'd come in. Hermione ordered two cappuccinos, something Harry knew fully Ron would despise, but hoped that Ron would finish it anyway – they all needed the energy. Harry only wished he were visible so that he could down one himself...three cappuccinos, however, would look a tad suspicious for two people.

The bell above the door sounded, making Harry turn to see the two burly men in dirty work clothes. They didn't speak to each other, didn't look toward the waitress or his friends who were still whispering between each other, but squeezed right in the booth right behind Hermione.

"I say we find a quiet place to Disapparate and head for the countryside," Hermione whispered with a confident tone. "Once we're there, we could send a message to the Order."

"Can you do that talking Patronus thing, then?" Ron whispered back, nearly mouthing the word Patronus so he wouldn't draw attention from the new customers.

"I've been practicing and I think so," Hermione didn't seem very confident, but Harry knew that she could probably make it sing and dance if she'd wished.

"Well, as long as it doesn't get them into trouble, though they might've been arrested already. God, that's revolting," Harry wasn't sure if Ron was distracting himself from the truth of what he'd just said or if the cappuccino was really as awful as he'd guessed it would be. Either way, the waitress had heard his complaints and gave him a sharp glare, as if he'd personally offended her, while she took the new patrons orders. The larger of the two, blonde and bulky, waved her away – the waitress suddenly looked concerned over her obvious lack of nightly tips.

"Let's get going, then, I don't want to drink this muck," Ron smacked his lips together in distaste. "Hermione, have you got Muggle money to pay for this?"

"Yes, I took out all my Building Society savings before I came to the Burrow. I'll bet all the change is at the bottom," Hermione sighed, leaning her entire arm into her beaded bag to rummage for the few quid she must have had left over – it was enough of a distraction that she missed the identical, synchronized movements of the two workmen behind her. Harry mirrored them before he'd realized he'd had need: they had all drawn their wands. Ron, who hadn't been watching the two of them, was later on the uptake and made due by lunging across the table and pushing Hermione down onto the bench – narrowly missing a spell that cracked the wall behind where his head had just been.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled, surprising the Death Eaters who had not been expecting a third party fighter. The large blonde Death Eater was hit square in the jaw and he slumped backwards from the force before he toppled over sideways; unconscious and vulnerable. The other man, confused by how his comrade had been attacked, fired another spell at Ron which bound him tightly in shiny, black ropes.

The waitress was screaming though Harry only realized it when she stopped when the second Stunning Spell he shot at the Death Eater missed, rebounded off the window, and hit her – instantly folding her to the ground and silencing the café for a brief, echoing moment.

"Expulso!" The Death Eater bellowed, making the table behind Harry explode. The force slammed him into the wall, his cloak slipping from his head and the jolt to his nerve-endings making him drop his wand.

"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione screamed from somewhere to his left. The Death Eater whose wand had been trained on him fell forward like a statue and crunched against the broken china on their table. Hermione, knowing it was safe, climbed from under the table as she shook glass from her hair – or maybe she wasn't doing it on purpose, considering how she was trembling.

"D-diffindo," she said immediately, her wand pointed to Ron. He shouted out against the binds when she cut open the knee of his jeans and quite a few layers of skin there. She cursed quietly, looking mortified. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Ron, my hand's shaking! Diffindo!"

That time did it properly, making the ropes fall away from him. He stretched out immediately, grabbing his wand which had fallen somewhere in the rubble during the fight. He got to his feet again, shaking his arms and trying to expel all the built-up adrenaline. Harry preoccupied himself by going over to the large, blonde Death Eater who had scrawled over the bench.

"I should've recognized him, he was there the night Dumbledore died," Harry muttered. He turned over the other, darker Death Eater with his foot. His eyes, still perfectly useful, were taking in the three of them skittishly.

"That's Dolohov," Ron sneered. "I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one's Thorfinn Rowle."

"Never mind what they're called!" said Hermione a little hysterically. "How did they find us? What are we going to do? Oh, this is all my fault!"

"How is it your fault?" Ron immediately questioned. "Did you lead them here? I didn't think so."

"But I should have realized it was them. And if I couldn't, we know very well who would have," she sniffled, her eyes skirting away as she tried to hide how overwhelmed she was. Harry knew perfectly what she was saying – Audrey would have known. Not only would Audrey have been able to identify them thanks to her Death Eater Ex-Boyfriend, but she probably would have been fully aware from either that extra sense she had about people, or reading their body language and behaviour that something was wrong. She would have known they were a threat.

He needed to think like Audrey. They were twins, it shouldn't be that hard – he tended to judge her decisions, but in the end they always seemed to be the best ones to keep everyone out of trouble – so he had to think like his sister. Now...what would Audrey do?

Audrey wouldn't leave a trace behind, for starters.

"Lock the door," Harry said suddenly, looking at Hermione. "And Ron, you turn out the lights."

The two moved quickly, coming back and examining the two Death Eaters as Harry was. It was a long time before either of them spoke, Dolohov still looking between all three of them fearfully.

"What are we going to do with them?" Ron asked Harry after a moment; then, even more quietly added, "Kill them? They'd kill us. They had a good go just now."

That's probably what Audrey would suggest; killing them. She'd started mentioning that a lot lately. After she may or may not have been the cause of Nott's death, she'd been growing more and more towards the idea of 'casualties of war'...Harry just wasn't sure he could be the one to finish the job. He didn't even think she could – Audrey wasn't really a killer, no matter how much she tried to hide behind the intimidation of the accident that was likely actually caused by Bellatrix Lestrange two years before.

As much as he wanted to think like his sister, he wasn't really sure he could act like her.

"We just need to wipe their memories," Harry concluded after a moment. "It's better like that; it'll throw them off the scent. If we killed them it'd be obvious we were here."

"You're the boss," Ron sounded relieved. "But I've never down a Memory Charm."

"Nor have I," said Hermione, "but I know the theory."

That was all she needed, Harry was sure. He figured this was a good medium – his sister always told him that he was too impulsive and he lacked any form of subtlety...maybe this is exactly the behaviour Voldemort wouldn't suspect later on. This could, after all, end up being what keeps them safe for an extra day – and the day after, they'd have to do something just like it again.

Hermione took a deep breath, preparing herself with whatever technique she had read about – and therefore perfected – as she pointed her wand to Dolohov's forehead and said, "obliviate."

It wasn't even a second before his eyes became fogged and distracted – completely at ease with whatever had happened to him and unaware that it had been done by the castors of the relaxed state he was currently in.

"Brilliant," Harry breathed, clapping her on the back and smiling when she gave an airy and nervous laugh of her own relief. "Take care of the other one and the waitress while Ron and I clear up."

"Clear up?" Ron repeated doubtfully, looking around at all the debris from their fight. "Why?"

"Don't you think they might wonder what's happened if they wake up and find themselves in a place that looks like it's just been bombed?" Not a trace behind, that's what she would say. He wondered if she would ever know what they'd done, if she'd be proud by his quick thinking and – as she always argued he never could manage – his 'subtlety'.

"Oh right, yeah..." Ron muttered, moving to try to take his wand from his pocket. It took him more than a moment to finally be able to wield it. "It's no wonder I can't get it out, Hermione, you packed my old jeans, they're tight."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Hermione hissed sarcastically, muttering to herself mutinously as she dragged the waitress by her ankles so that she was out of sight from the windows.

It took more time than Harry would have hoped to get everything into its proper place, but eventually it looked grimy, dodgy and as good as new...or at least as good as it had looked when they'd entered it. After they had finally repaired everything as they remembered it, they propped up the Death Eaters in their original seats – ignoring when Ron gave Dolohov a swift elbow to the head.

"But how did they find us? How did they know we were here?" Hermione asked when she examined the Death Eaters, dreamily facing each other and unaware of their presence. She waited a moment before she turned to Harry, her face pale and nervous. "You...you don't think you've still got your Trace on you, do you, Harry?"

"He can't have," Ron stated immediately, sounding exactly like Hermione would have if she'd been arguing one of McGonagall's essays. "The Trace breaks at seventeen, that's Wizarding law, you can't put it on an adult."

"As far as you know," Hermione countered. "What if the Death Eaters have found a way to put it on a seventeen-year-old?"

"But Harry hasn't been near a Death Eater in the last twenty-four hours. Who's supposed to have put a Trace back on him?"

That did not necessarily help out his confidence. He felt like he was contaminated, that he somehow needed to go into quarantine until they found out exactly how the Death Eaters had found them – could he still have the trace on them, or could it be something even more sinister than that? What if someone at the Burrow had put the Trace on him? He probably wouldn't have known it and to think that they would have had to know it was him made it even worse...it could have been someone he trusted.

"If I can't use magic, and you can't use magic near me, without us giving away our position-" he started, trying to wrap his head around what they might have discovered.

"We're not splitting up!" Hermione barked sternly.

"We need a safe place to hide," Ron suggested. "Give us time to think things through."

Well, that might not be so difficult then – somewhere they could hide, they could meet up with the Order, they could meet up with Audrey...somewhere they could all be together. It was as simple as saying his own name. "Grimmauld Place."

They didn't seem as enthused by the idea.

"Don't be silly, Harry, Snape can get in there!"

"Ron's dad said they've put up jinxes against him," he said immediately, hammering through before Hermione had the chance to argue him. "Even if they haven't worked, so what? I swear, I'd like nothing better than to meet Snape!"

"You're starting to sound just like your sister-"

"Well, maybe she has a point," Harry gritted out.

"It's not that simple!"

"Hermione, where else is there? It's the best chance we've got. Snape's only one Death Eater. If I've still got the Trace on me, we'll have whole crowds of them on us wherever else we go."

Logic – it was the only thing that Hermione would give in to and it seemed to have done the trick. Though she looked completely unconvinced, she knew they couldn't stay in the café anymore and was quick to unlock the door so they could run out while Ron allowed the light from the Deluminator to brighten the café again. On the count of three, they reversed the charms on their victims and before they could so much as blink, Harry, Ron and Hermione turned on the spot and vanished into the night.

After the horrible feeling of compression had subsided, Harry opened his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief to see the small square lined by the leering and decaying old-century houses. Number Twelve was clearly visible, thanks to having been told by the Secret Keeper before his demise, and they rushed forward – skipping the steps so that they would have less chance of being seen. Tapping the door with his wand, Harry heard a number of metallic clicks and the clatter of a chain before the door opened itself for them.

Harry, Ron and Hermione rushed into the house and closed the door swiftly behind them. They all leaned on it for a moment, catching both their bearings and their breath while the gas lamps around them sprang to life and gave them a flickering view of the empty hallway – there was nothing new and it seemed as if nothing had disrupted the cobwebs or dusty curtained portrait of Mrs Black...but, in the corner, the troll's leg umbrella stand was lying on its side as if Tonks had been here just days before.

"I think somebody's been in here," Hermione whispered, pointing toward it and stealing the words right from Harry's mouth.

"That could've happened as the Order left," Ron suggested hopefully.

"So where are these jinxes they put up against Snape?" Harry asked, leaning forward but refusing to leave the safety of the door.

"Maybe they're only activated if he shows up?" Ron suggested in the same voice as before. It seemed he wasn't necessarily confident in his guess considering that neither Ron or Hermione moved – Harry was hesitant, but more than ready to get this out of the way. He was tired and his scar was aching and he was worried about his sister – jinxes against his own enemy were hardly his greatest concern...even if he was nervous to trip them.

"Well," he said slowly, taking a step forward. "We can't stay here forever."

His first step was his last, for the moment he had stepped over the welcome mat a ghostly, hollow voice called out from the shadows.

"Severus Snape?"

It was Mad-Eye Moody's voice, sounding just as suspicious and distrustful as if he were standing in front of them still. Harry tried to croak that he was not Snape at all, but was cut short by the sensation of a cold wind blowing him back and making his tongue curl backward on itself. He couldn't have spoken even if he wanted to, he heard Ron and Hermione behind him, trying to shout as he had, but before he could move his hand to untie his tongue, it had unravelled on its own.

Ron, retching behind him, nearly drowned out Hermione's hiccups. "That m-must have b-been the T-Tongue-Tying Curse Mad-Eye set up for Snape!"

Harry, more nervous than ever, took another step down the hall. Something shifted in the shadows in front of them and he didn't have time to draw his wand before he realized what it was: it was a figure, tall and dust coloured and horrible. Hermione screamed and Mrs Black's portrait seemed to agree with her, the curtains around her portrait flying open as the gray figure swooped past her and swelled to take up more of the air that was trying to reach his lungs. It was flying toward them faster and faster, the pale hair from his face streaming behind him, his sunken, fleshless face sneering; his eye-sockets empty and boring right through him. It raised a ruined arm, pointing to Harry, accusing him...

"No!" Harry shouted, stepping back and raising his wand, even though no spell seemed proper to use against this ghost. "No! It wasn't us! We didn't kill you-"

As if the word kill was what it had been waiting for, the figure exploded in a cloud of dust and sprinkled horror. Coughing and in shock, Harry looked behind him to see Hermione crouched with her hands over her head and Ron who was shaking head to foot, trying to comfort her. In the corner, the gas-lights finally showing the true, barren hallway, Mrs Black continued to screech.

"Mudbloods, filth, stains of dishonor, taint of shame on the house of my fathers-"

"SHUT UP!" Harry bellowed. Still shaking, he drew his wand on her corner of the room and with a shower of red sparks the curtains swung shut – silencing her curses again.

"That...that was..." Hermione seemed about as speechless as he did. Ron tried helping her up, but it seemed hard for him considering they were both trembling so much that they could hardly stand alone, nevertheless support each other.

"Yeah," Harry mumbled, trying to sound more confident than he felt, "but it wasn't really him, was it? Just something to scare Snape."

Harry couldn't help but wonder exactly how much that ghostly figure would have affected Snape. Would he be as terrified as they were, or would he have gotten rid of the creature as simply as he had killed the real Dumbledore? Still shaking, he led his friends down the hall again – waiting for something to attack them, waiting for something horrible to accuse them again...

For the first time, Harry was glad that Audrey wasn't with them. He was glad she hadn't been forced to see what her mentor had caused in this house – not with the guilt they already felt over the night on the Astronomy tower. Because Harry was sure that if he felt guilty, she did. He could only imagine what it was Audrey hid behind all that bitterness and hostility.

"Before we go any farther, I think we'd better check," Hermione stopped them before the door and raised her wand in the space between them to say, "Homenum revelio."

The silence around them refused to stir.

"Well, you've just had a big shock," said Ron kindly, though there was no denying that he was surprised one of Hermione's spells had not worked. "What was that supposed to do?"

"It did what I meant it to do!" Hermione defended, as if the thought of doing something improperly offended her – in fact, it probably did. "That was a spell to reveal human presence, and there's nobody here except us!"

"And old Dusty," Ron muttered, looking haphazardly back to where the dead ghost-figure had disintegrated before their eyes.

"Let's go up," Hermione proposed with a meaningful look to the same patch of carpet, leading her way up the old stairs to the drawing room. With a wave of her wand, she ignited the gas lamps in the room and perched on the sofa, shivering slightly as she tried to adjust to her surroundings. Ron crossed to the window and peeked through the curtains, waiting a long moment before speaking.

"Can't see anyone out there," he said confidently. "And you'd think, if Harry still had a Trace on him, they'd have followed us here. I know they can't get in the house, but – what's up, Harry?"

Harry had cried out: his scar had burned again as something flashed across his mind like a bright light on water. It burned his retinas, his skin, and his mind as he scrunched and scowled against it. It was violent and momentary, but as unforgiving as white-hot metal...

"What did you see?" Ron asked, immediately moving to Harry. "Did you see him at my place?"

"No," though Harry understood his concern. "I just felt anger – he's really angry-"

"But that could be at the Burrow," Ron argued immediately, coming in front of him and examining him as if he could see whatever it was Harry, himself, was seeing. "What else? Didn't you see anything? Was he cursing someone?"

"No, I just felt anger – I couldn't tell..."

"Your scar, again?" Hermione sounded frightened. "But what's going on? I thought you said that connection had closed!"

"It did, for a while," Harry muttered, thinking back to Drea and how hard she had been trying to keep his mind closed for him. She wasn't as concerned as Hermione was; she understood the benefit it could present...but it was for the better that it wasn't a two-way street for Voldemort to travel on, too. Drea had said she would do this part – that she would keep track of Voldemort by practicing with her visions and Astral Projection...now that she was gone he felt overwhelmed. On one hand, Ron had a point: he had no idea where Voldemort was directing his anger but on the other, he also understood exactly why Hermione didn't want him to know to direct his anger here. The pain in his forehead was building, the pressure intensifying as Voldemort must have heard worse and worse news... "I – I think it's started opening again whenever he loses control, that's how it used to-"

"But then you've got to close your mind!" Hermione took on a tone as if she was lecturing him about a failed examination. "Harry, Dumbledore didn't want you to use that connection, he wanted you to shut it down, that's why you were supposed to use Occlumency! Otherwise Voldemort can plant false images in your mind, remember-"

"Yeah, I do remember, thanks," Harry sneered, giving her a glare. She backed away immediately, knowing that her point had been made as much as it would be: he didn't need her reminder of what had happened last time he hadn't been able to close it. He'd almost gotten them all killed and while the only real fatalities were on the Death Eaters side, that had weighed on the Order's side more than he could have thought it would. Would Audrey have gotten together with those Slytherins – with Malfoy – as she had if he hadn't led her there? If she hadn't have felt so misunderstood, like no one would accept who she'd had to become in battle, would she have kept a bit of that fun-loving nature she used to have? Would she still have trusted him? Because she hadn't after that point. She'd always been angry, she'd always been bitter...but he didn't think that she'd ever forgive him for leading her somewhere she'd had to be so drastic. She'd saved their lives that day – and all he had done was question her loyalty about leaving Hermione unconscious with her. She'd taken that prophecy, bartered for their lives, smashed it to distract them, and attacked Thuban Nott because he'd attacked Harry – not because he had attacked her...and she had never forgiven herself. Hell, Harry had never really forgiven himselfeither. She had every right to be mad – whether or not she really had murdered him.

The pain was intensifying the more he tried to push it away. It was like resisting the urge to vomit – how it kept creeping back up and burning the longer it was withheld. He turned his back on them, pretending to examine the room and the wall-sized tapestry depicting the Black Family Tree so that they didn't have to see how much he was struggling. After a moment where he vaguely noticed a piece of the tapestry was missing, he heard Hermione scream. He drew his wand, ready for whatever had come for them again, only to see a silver Patronus move swiftly through the drawing room window where Ron had just been patrolling. It moved to the table in the middle of the room and it spoke with Mr Weasley's voice.

"Family safe. Do not reply, we are being watched."

It waited a moment, as if making sure the words registered before it spun around the table and sped through the window again. This was curious; from what Harry had seen a Patronus dissolved after its message was given – but the weasel moved through the air, faintly flying away like a slow-moving shooting star.

Ron and Hermione dropped to the couch, looking more reassured than at any point that night. Harry didn't quite know what to feel – they were safe? All of them? Now that he knew Audrey was safe, the relief should have kicked in...but his fear was then replaced with a nervous worry.

Merlin's beard, she was going to be so mad...

"They're all right, they're all right!" Hermione whispered, getting hugged by Ron who looked nearly hysterical with his own relief.

"Harry," Ron said over Hermione's shoulder, seeing Harry's torn expression. "About Drea, I-"

"It's not a problem," Harry swallowed thickly, sickened by the pain in his head and the worry deep down in his stomach. "It's your family, 'course you were worried. I'd feel the same way...I do feel the same way."

"I'm sure Audrey's fine, Harry," Hermione said, sounding like she needed to say it for her own comfort just as much as his. "We would have heard otherwise. She's strong – she won't be defeated easily."

"Yeah," he said simply, the sullenness rising again when he realized how much Hermione had helped make it easier to be put in that position in the first place. Between how upset he was that his sister had been left behind and the pain that was reaching a dangerous peak in force, Harry felt hostile. He could faintly hear Hermione talk about how she didn't want to be alone, how she thought they should camp in the room together...but he couldn't really pay attention. It was too painful; he couldn't function around the throbbing of his brain...

"Bathroom," he muttered, leaving as quickly as he could without rousing suspicion from his friends. They would assume he was upset about Audrey, that's at least what he hoped, but there was only one way to release this kind of pressure – and that was to give in.

He barely made it: the bathroom's lock wouldn't keep out Ron and Hermione for long, so he kept his writhing quiet as he gripped at his head and fell to the floor. He closed his eyes – if it was an open connection with Voldemort, Voldemort couldn't see where he was: he'd figure it out somehow if he did. He'd figure out where to find them.

In an explosion of agony, he felt the unnatural rage that did not belong to him possess him as it had so many times – only this time, he was aware of the consequences. He knew what this meant: he was one with Voldemort's thoughts again. He could see the long room where Voldemort stood, lit only by firelight, where the familiar, giant blonde Death Eater screamed and thrashed on the floor.

He walked over to the Death Eater, gripping his pale wand and aiming at him cruelly. Then, in a voice much higher and more merciless than Harry could have ever spoken, words slipped between his teeth.

"More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time. You called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again?" Voldemort's voice was rising, the grip on his wand becoming more and more unforgiving. "While you bother me with your idiocy, another of my Death Eaters was marred by Audrey Potter's hands. You fear she defeats you and so she has again. You fear her and so you ignored signs of her brother's escape. How can I trust you to find them now, Rowle?"

The man cried and whimpered, begging with words that didn't make sense through his haze of pain.

"Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure..." he hissed, lowering his own wand. "How furious you must be that your work has escaped you again – he has lost me the Potters, a painful reminder of your own failures. Do it, Draco, or feel my wrath yourself!"

A log shifted in the fireplace: Flames reared, their light darting across a terrified, pointed white face – with a sense of emerging from deep, cold water, Harry drew heaving breaths and opened his eyes.

He was himself again; spread-eagled on the cold black marble floor, his nose inches from one of the silver serpent tails that supported the large antique bathtub. He sat up, furrowing his brow and wincing at how sensitive it still was. Malfoy's gaunt, petrified face seemed burned on the inside of his eyes. The ultimatum that Voldemort had given him still rang in his ears – he felt sickened by what he had seen, by the use to which Draco was now being put by Voldemort.

He hated the bloke, but he fully acknowledged how he had saved Audrey's life. What little good it would do if Harry let his own sister die by abandoning her again...

There was a sharp tap on the door, Hermione's voice spoke through the wood of the door. "Harry, do you want your toothbrush? I've got it here."

"Yeah, great, thanks," he said, fighting to keep his voice casual as he stood up to let her in. She handed it over to him and gave him a concerned look before walking away, as if knowing he needed to be alone with his thoughts. He was grateful. He had to figure out how to keep Audrey from finding out how Draco was being used as he was...because he didn't know how much of a threat to Voldemort's plans Audrey would continue being if she were to go storming in to rescue the little ferret.

---

Harry could not stop looking at the picture. He was sure that Ron and Hermione had gotten their fill of hearing about each detail of the photograph, or the way his mother wrote his 'g's in the same way that he did – but he couldn't seem to let go of the two pieces of memories. He wondered what Audrey would think if she were here to see it, if she could see what he saw in the photo.

Like the trust. There was a kind of trust in this photo and it wasn't really something he had ever seen from her, that kind of trust in her eyes. Little Audrey looked younger than Harry somehow, but there was a lot of intelligence behind her eyes: that he had always seen – but here, there was an innocence to it. A sense that, at one year old, that was intelligence and not wisdom – it was awareness of her surroundings, not awareness caused by tragedy and living to tell first hand.

He also didn't know that they'd had a cat; someone must not have thought it was important to tell him. He wondered if the cat had made it out of Godric's Hollow with he and his sister, or if it had died along with their parents. Maybe Aunt Petunia had refused to let it into the house; after all, she hardly accepted Aunt Marge's prize winning dogs that never left her side.

And in the fragment of the letter that accompanied the picture, it had said that Audrey had been horrible on a broom and Harry had been a natural – it was so fitting that it made his face crack out into a grin. She'd always hated the idea of flying, since her very first flying lesson when she'd screamed at him for challenging Malfoy.

It all wound down to those days, didn't it – the yelling, the challenging, the rift that grew between them? Could all that bitterness have really started in Hogwarts? Would that bitterness have even been there if he'd have just let himself be put into Slytherin with her, if he wouldn't have weighed so heavily on Ron and Malfoy's words before that?

He looked back down to the picture; it was strange seeing both he and his sister so light-hearted. He didn't look troubled, he looked exactly how he always felt on a broom: happy, free. He knew the next time he saw Audrey this would be the opposite of how she looked at him: here it was interested, happy, curious...next time she would see him, she would be furious. They had left her in the middle of a battle that she had still been fighting...a battle that wasn't even necessarily hers to fight. She'd always said that it wasn't her fight, that she wouldn't pick sides...and now because of him and because of Malfoy she had not only picked sides but become a fighter for a cause he wasn't sure she believed in. Not fully.

Who knew what kind of damage this battle had already cost her. It'd cost him Dumbledore, Moody, Hedwig and, let's be honest, a bit of his sanity...but Audrey had lost more than her sanity; Harry was sure that she'd lost a bit of herself. After the Department of Mysteries, Drea had lost everything she valued about herself – she'd lost her confidence and her self-assurance, she'd lost her friends...he just hoped that she hadn't lost a fragment of something deeper.

After all the research he, Hermione and Ron had been doing on Horcruxes during their three days here at Grimmauld Place, there was no denying that Audrey's name had come up more than a few times. If she had killed Nott – which he still was not sure he believed – then she had ripped her soul. Ron, of course, had been the first to express worry that she may try to make something of that damage...that she might...

No, Harry couldn't even imagine it. Audrey clearly hadn't thought of the possibility of doing something about that splinter and he hoped that the idea would never enter her mind. Considering it was Bellatrix Lestranges curse to finish the job, Audrey shouldn't have a split soul at all – just a lot of misplaced guilt over something she couldn't have avoided. But still...the possibility weighed on him with its own level of fault. She had told him not to go to the Department of Mysteries. She had told him it had been a trap. She had been right...and he had led her there anyway.

He knew why Audrey felt so bitter towards him – towards his popularity, his fame, the fact he got away with so many things when Dumbledore had been alive, while she got away with very little unless it was under Snape's judgement...he had dragged her through every adventure, whether she wanted to come or not and he had expressly ignored all of her warnings...and because of this, she had lost everything closest to her. If that was her real reason for hating him...there were times he wasn't quite sure he blamed her.

Harry nearly jumped out of his thoughts and his seat when halfway down the flight of stairs he heard a tap on the front door, followed by the metallic tumblers of the lock and grinding of the chain to allow someone entry.

He had his wand drawn before he could have willed it, the picture and letter stuffed deeply into his pocket for safe keeping. He moved to the shadows, shivering when he realized that he may get a glimpse of the monster that was Dumbledore's lifeless memory but did not move: it was the best place to catch the intruder by surprise. It wouldn't be Kreacher – Kreacher could Apparate in and out of this place with Mundungus as he pleased...this was someone else.

He had no time to warn Ron and Hermione to stop their bickering upstairs, to warn them to draw their wands, because the intruder was already taking a step forward, toward Moody's disembodied voice which asked "Severus Snape?" from the darkness surrounding him.

Could it really be Severus Snape, here to finish the job and kill Harry, Ron, Hermione...and possibly even Drea, who had so firmly believed there still could be good in him? Could it be other Death Eaters that Snape had tipped off about the location of the house somehow, even if he wasn't the secret keeper?

The dust-figure moved near him, picking up speed to travel down the hall and attack the on-comer who didn't seem at all flustered by the presence.

"It was not I who killed you, Albus," the quiet voice stated. It sounded nearly sorrowful, which caused the jinx to break; exploding the dust figure near the entryway and making the newcomer indiscernible through the cloud of dusted gore. Harry pointed his wand as accurately as he could: right in the middle of the cloud, where the dust was the most dense and able to hide the intruder.

"Don't move!"

He had spoken too loudly without thinking; the curtains hiding Mrs Black's wails flew open and allowed her to finally get more than a good earful. "Mudbloods and filth dishonouring my house-"

Ron and Hermione nearly fell over each other as they ran down the stairs, wands at the ready like Harry's was. The fog was thin enough now that Harry could see the man holding his arms raised before them. "Hold your fire, it's me, Remus!"

"Oh, thank goodness," Hermione sighed in relief, moving to face Mrs Black instead. With a loud bang, the curtains slapped themselves shut again and silenced her protests about Hermione even having a wand to point. Ron lowered his wand as well...Harry did not feel so quick to trust.

"Show yourself!"

Lupin moved forward so that the lamplight could fall on him. He looked shabby as usual, dressed in the travelling cloak Harry well remembered him always wearing. His hands were still held in surrender, his eyes scanning the three of them and giving a breath of relief to find they were safe. He didn't look worried that Audrey wasn't with them. He did seem to realize that Harry was not in the mood for small-talk just yet.

"I am Remus John Lupin, werewolf, sometimes known as Moony, one of the four creators of the Marauder's Map, married to Nymphadora, usually known as Tonks, and I taught you how to produce a Patronus, Harry, which takes the form of a stag."

It was more than reassuring.

"Oh, all right," Harry lowered his wand, feeling a little flustered and embarrassed that he had overreacted. "But I had to check, didn't I?"

"Speaking as your ex-Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, I quite agree that you had to check," he informed, moving forward with a slight frown on his face, ever the teacher he had always been. "Ron, Hermione, you shouldn't be so quick to lower your defenses."

They all ran toward him, happy to have some sign of life from the battle they had left behind. He looked exhausted, but just as happy to see them. He looked around, as if inspecting to make sure that they weren't alone – did he know that Audrey wasn't with them? Was he searching for her after all?

"No sign of Severus, then?"

"No," Harry instinctively looked around as well. "What's going on? Is everyone okay? Did the Death Eaters...take anyone?"

The question was not as subtle as he'd hoped and he didn't know why he felt he had to be obscure about his worries. Still, Lupin was quick to indulge him. "Yes, everyone is fine and as safely hidden as they can be, but we're all being watched. There are a couple of Death Eaters in the square outside-"

"We know."

"I had to Apparate very precisely onto the top step outside the front door to be sure that they would not see me. They can't know you're in here or I'm sure they'd have more people out there; they're staking out everywhere that's got any connection with you, Harry," this was comforting considering he still had worries on how they had been tracking him. If they didn't actually know he was in here, then it was a relief – this was a regular guard that was none the wiser. "Let's go downstairs, there's a lot to tell you, and I want to know what happened after you left the Burrow."

The sentiment was shared between the four of them, wanting to know all the details of what happened. They moved so that they could go into the kitchen, where Hermione quickly cast a fire in the grate to warm the chilled and moulded air. Lupin pulled a few butterbeers from beneath his traveling cloak – something easy and normal that they all thanked him profusely for as they sat down. With the fire and the butterbeer, it hardly felt like they were hiding from a war.

"I'd have been here three days ago but I needed to shake off the Death Eater tailing me," Lupin explained. "So, you came straight here after the wedding?"

"No," Harry said quickly, "only after we ran into a couple of Death Eaters in a café on Tottenham Court Road."

Lupin proceeded to slop a majority of his butterbeer down his front. He looked up at Harry with wide eyes, as if expecting him to announce he was joking. "What?"

It took much less time to explain what had happened than it had taken for the three of them to trust the cloaked man after he had entered the house. It was a quick explanation that he took in without any interjections until the story was completed.

"But how did they find you so quickly?" He asked to himself as much as to them. "It's impossible to track anyone who Apparates, unless you grab hold of them as they disappear."

"And it doesn't seem likely they were just strolling down Tottenham Court Road at the time, does it?" Harry agreed, peeling at the label on his butterbeer in aggravation. If Lupin didn't have any answers for him, there was no feeling safe.

"We wondered," Hermione started tentatively, "whether Harry could still have the Trace on him?"

"Impossible," Lupin stated immediately. Ron looked more than smug about having known something that Hermione did not and it looked like she would have berated them if she and Harry didn't obviously feel so relieved at the news. "Apart from anything else, they'd know for sure Harry was here if he still had the Trace on him, wouldn't they? But I can't see how they could have tracked you to Tottenham Court Road, that's worrying, really worrying – it was smart of you to erase their memories as you did. You helped many of us; including your sister."

Harry quickly thought back to the memory of Draco being forced to torture Rowle or that he would be tortured himself and wasn't quite sure if he could agree that he'd helped Audrey much at all.

"Tell us what happened after we left, we haven't heard a thing since Ron's dad told us the family was safe. Was Audrey included there, is she alright?"

"Well, Kingsley saved us," Lupin sighed, giving a tip of his butterbeer to the air as if toasting Kingsley's efforts. "Thanks to his warning most of the wedding guests were able to Disapparate before they arrived."

"Were they Death Eaters or Ministry people?" Hermione asked at once.

"A mixture; but to all intents and purposes they're the same thing now," Lupin shook his head, as if disappointed in a pupil. "There were about a dozen of them, but they didn't come knowing you were there, Harry. Arthur heard a rumor that they tried to torture your whereabouts out of Scrimgeour before they killed him; if it's true, he didn't give you away. The problem was...they did find Audrey."

Harry's stomach dropped. Even if he had momentarily felt grateful for Scrimgeour: a man he hated, any sentiment towards him was gone with this knowledge.

"What do you mean, they found her?" Harry asked at once. "You said that she was safe!"

"She is, from what I know. I came here to see you first. After you three were able to escape she kept fighting," Harry couldn't stop hanging off his words long enough to even realize how surprising that was in itself. That she would continue to fight as she had been, against people she may have known. "Her Polyjuice potion wore off minutes into the battle; it was easy to spot her, particularly as she began to use her Magnuse – she escaped with Sirius; we believe they made it to Shell Cottage."

"Shell Cottage?" Hermione asked quietly. Harry turned to her and could read the guilt in her eyes – after how he had treated her for leaving Audrey behind and to hear this about her, she was clearly beating herself up.

"It's Bill and Fleur's new house," Ron explained.

"After she left, they knew there was definitive proof you had to be close by – but they couldn't properly identify who she had left with, you see. Sirius is not much taller than you, Harry, and his dark hair was easy to misidentify...so they stayed and searched the Burrow from top to bottom," Lupin went on. "But they knew that they had Apparated away and figured that you and Audrey were together somewhere else. How could they think different? There was no trace of you and they had seen her Disapparate with someone who had your basic features. After they found the ghoul – though they didn't want to get too close – and interrogated those of us who remained for hours, they started to doubt themselves. They were trying to get information on you, Harry, but of course nobody apart from the Order knew that you had been there, save Audrey's escape with someone who they mistook for you. I doubt they even know you're with Ron and Hermione."

All three of them let out a brief breath, wondering if their luck could have gotten any better. Harry couldn't believe the weight it took off of his chest – had he always been breathing this shallowly, ever since they had been separated? It was an immediate lift of his spirits and his hopes. He was glad to know that his sister had gotten away and considering they were planning on breaking into the Ministry, it would be a good distraction for her to keep herself hidden while they caused such a mess to get the Horcrux from Umbridge.

"At the same time that they were smashing up the wedding, more Death Eaters were forcing their way into every Order-connected house in the country. No deaths," Lupin added quickly, "but they were rough. They burned down Dedalus Diggle's house, but as you know he wasn't there, and they used the Cruciatus Curse on Tonks's family. Again, trying to find out where you went after you visited them during the escape from Privet Drive. They're all right – shaken, obviously, but otherwise okay."

"The Death Eaters got through all those protective charms?" Harry asked, feeling the cool realization hit him again – just because Audrey was okay didn't mean that everything was better. The Tonks family had been tortured because he had crashed into Tonks' parents garden that they knew where to look. He should have been able to lose the Death Eaters sooner so he wouldn't have led them straight to their proverbial and literal doorstep.

"What you've got to realize, Harry, is that the Death Eaters have got the full might of the Ministry on their side now," Lupin explained, his eyes flitting to each of the Gryffindors in front of them to emphasize how crucial this was to understand. "They've got the power to perform brutal spells without fear of identification or arrest. They managed to penetrate every defensive spell we'd cast against them, and once inside, they were completely open about why they'd come."

"And are they bothering to give an excuse for torturing Harry and Audrey's whereabouts out of people?" Hermione asked with a bristly tone. Lupin immediately looked uncomfortable.

"Well," he hesitated before sighing and reaching into his robes, pulling out a copy of the Daily Prophet. After another moment of hesitation, he nodded his head determinedly and pushed it across the table so they could all see it. "Here, you'll know sooner or later anyway. That's their pretext for going after you."

Smoothing out the paper, Harry saw a large spliced photograph of both he and his sister. It wasn't from the same photo, but two rather different ones. He wondered, besides the photo weighing heavily in their pocket, if they even had a picture of the two of them together. He doubted it. His picture was the same used when the Quibbler released his article about the Death Eaters – the picture of Audrey he had never seen, but she looked particularly joyous...devilishly joyous. Underneath his picture it read

WANTED FOR QUESTIONING ABOUT THE DEATH OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE

Even more disastrously, underneath Audrey's picture it read

CONVICTED OF MURDER IN THE DEATH OF THUBAN NOTT

"WHAT?" They all roared, looking from the paper to Lupin, who looked sombrely back to them all. Harry hadn't been quite so surprised, he guessed – he understood how they could claim this: no one had really seen what had happened on top of the tower and Harry had been seen running from it as soon as Dumbledore had died; in a mad chase for Snape, the Death Eaters, and Audrey. But for her to be convicted of murder? He doubted her Magnuse would work well against Dementors when they shut her away in Azkaban.

"I'm sorry, Harry," Lupin expressed genuinely.

"So Death Eaters have taken over the Daily Prophet too?" Hermione seethed, shaking her head furiously as Lupin nodded. "But surely people realize what's going on?"

"The coup has been smooth and virtually silent," Lupin disagreed. "The official version of Scrimgeour's murder is that he resigned; he has been replaced by Pius Thicknesse, who is under the Imperius Curse."

"Why didn't Voldemort declare himself Minister of Magic?" asked Ron, causing Lupin to laugh bitterly.

"He doesn't need to, Ron. Effectively, he is the Minister, but why should he sit behind a desk at the Ministry? His puppet, Thicknesse, is taking care of everyday business, leaving Voldemort free to extend his power beyond the Ministry.

"Naturally many people have deduced what has happened: there has been such a dramatic change in Ministry policy in the last few days, and many are whispering that Voldemort must be behind it." Lupin continued. "However, that is the point: they whisper. They daren't confide in each other, not knowing whom to trust; they are scared to speak out, in case their suspicions are true and their families are targeted. Yes, Voldemort is playing a very clever game. Declaring himself might have provoked open rebellion; remaining masked has created confusion, uncertainty, and fear."

"And this dramatic change in Ministry policy," Harry interrupted, "involves warning the Wizarding world against us instead of Voldemort?"

"That's certainly a part of it," Lupin stated with a sigh, "and it is a masterstroke. Now that Dumbledore is dead, you – the Boy Who Lived – were sure to be the symbol and rallying point for any resistance to Voldemort. Audrey – the Girl who Coerced Dragons – was a symbol that you can stand true to your beliefs no matter which side you should be on...but by suggesting that you had a hand in the old hat's death, Voldemort has not only set a price upon your head, but sown doubt and fear amongst many who would have defended you."

"And of course, bolstering the point with Audrey being a murderer," Hermione closed her eyes, obviously overwhelmed. "Has she seen this yet?"

"I doubt it," Lupin shook his head. "I also doubt she will take it well when she does."

"Definitely not," Hermione agreed quietly. "So while the media is moving to cause uncertainty about Harry and Audrey, what has the larger scale Ministry action been?"

"Meanwhile," Lupin sounded as if he already knew this would strike an argument. "The Ministry has started moving against Muggleborns. Look at page two."

Hermione turned the pages quickly and dropped them as if they burnt her fingers. She had barely glanced at the page before she gasped. "A Muggleborn Register! 'The Ministry of Magic is undertaking a survey of so-called 'Muggle-borns' the better to understand how they came to possess magical secrets.

"'Recent research undertaken by the Department of Mysteries reveals that magic can only be passed from person to person when Wizards reproduce. Where no proven Wizarding ancestry exists, therefore, the so-called Muggleborn is likely to have obtained magical power by theft or force.

"'The Ministry is determined to root out such usurpers of magical power, and to this end has issued an invitation to every so-called Muggleborn to present themselves for interview by the newly appointed Muggle-born Registration Commission.'"

She looked up to Harry, Ron and Lupin helplessly; searching for words to say but finding her breath taken away. Harry immediately felt bad for her – this would cause problems later on, this he knew, and not just for Hermione...but for many of the people they knew. Ron, who as of this summer couldn't go with seeing Hermione upset, fumbled to speak.

"People won't let this happen," he said firmly.

"It is happening, Ron," Lupin did not sound happy to admit it. "Muggleborns are being rounded up as we speak."

"But how are they supposed to have 'stolen' magic?" Ron sounded much more upset than Harry was allowing himself to feel. He was still trying to make sense of the idea that he was wanted for 'questioning' about murder; nevertheless that his sister had been convicted of it. To start thinking about the Muggleborn Registry and how it would affect this new point in their journey felt like it needed more time to be properly digested. It was all just too much to take in at once. "It's mental, if you could steal magic there wouldn't be any Squibs, would there?"

"I know," Lupin sighed, sounding worn and tired. "Nevertheless, unless you can prove that you have at least one close Wizarding relative, you are now deemed to have obtained your magical power illegally and must suffer the punishment."

Ron looked nervously to Hermione, who still looked unable to speak, and looked determinedly back towards Lupin. "What if purebloods and halfbloods swear a Muggleborn's part of their family? I'll tell everyone Hermione's my cousin-"

Hermione put her hand over Ron's, giving him a thankful squeeze and a sad smile. "Thank you, Ron, but I couldn't let you-"

"You won't have a choice," Ron gripped her hand, his eyes ablaze. "I'll teach you my family tree so you can answer questions on it."

Hermione gave a sharp laugh. "Ron, as we're on the run with Harry Potter, the most wanted person in the country, I don't think it matters. If I was going back to school it would be different. What's Voldemort planning for Hogwarts?"

"Attendance is now compulsory for every young witch and wizard," Lupin explained. "That was announced yesterday. It's a change, because it was never obligatory before. Of course, nearly every witch and wizard in Britain has been educated at Hogwarts, but their parents had the right to teach them at home or send them abroad if they preferred. This way, Voldemort will have the whole Wizarding population under his eye from a young age. And it's also another way of weeding out Muggleborns, because students must be given Blood Status – meaning that they have proven to the Ministry that they are of Wizard descent before they are allowed to attend."

Harry could imagine all those shows that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon used to watch on the Holocaust, on concentration camps – how people had been tricked to enter them and then had never made it out again. That's exactly how he felt Voldemort was tricking them...he was sending them to their deaths under the pretense of learning magic that he thought they'd stolen.

"It's... it's..." Harry stuttered, trying to find words that could properly express the images flying through his mind. Lupin, understanding his fury, nodded softly and finished his thought for him.

"I know." He looked for a moment, letting the thoughts sink in before a look of determination passed his face, as if something across Harry's had helped him make up his mind. "I'll understand if you can't confirm this, Harry, but the Order is under the impression that Dumbledore left you a mission."

"He did," Harry nodded.

"Can you confide in me what the mission is?" Lupin looked so hopeful, so apt to help that Harry felt guilty knowing how he had to answer.

"I can't, Remus, I'm sorry. If Dumbledore didn't tell you I don't think I can." He saw Lupin's eyes flicker to his friends, almost as if asking why they always had to be involved and he immediately felt the need to defend them. "He told me I could tell Ron and Hermione and no one else; they're in on it and they're coming with me."

"And Audrey?"

Harry nearly winced at the thought, the memory of her – as a tall, silver-haired beauty – fighting off Death Eaters to get to them and how a blink of a second later, he had no idea what had happened to her. He'd abandoned her like she'd always promised him he would – no matter how many years he'd tried to argue it, he'd proven her right in the end.

"Drea knows about the mission, she's supposed to be part of it," his voice sounded weaker than he'd meant it to and he cleared his throat momentarily.

"We didn't mean to leave her behind," Hermione encouraged Harry quietly, the guilt eating through her voice again.

"Remus, could you..." Harry, struck with what he knew was a vain hope, dug deeply into his pocket and pulled out the two rumpled pieces from his jeans. He slid them over to Lupin who took a moment to examine them as Harry spoke. "Could you give these to Drea? I know she's going to want to have a go at me, but maybe it'll help her remember what we're fighting for?"

Lupin took a long moment to look through the letter and the photograph that Harry had slid over to him, a sad smile gracing his features. Harry could tell he was only half seeing what was in front of him; he was living more through memories than whatever it was he found comical in the letter itself. After a long moment, he looked up.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but I'm not sure I can," he answered carefully, looking nervous to be speaking. Harry gave him a curious look, not understanding why – he said that Audrey was safe, so why couldn't he deliver this to her? "You see, I thought that I might still be of some use to you. You know what I am and what I can do. I could come with you to provide protection. There would be no need to tell me exactly what you were up to."

Harry was admittedly confused. He didn't understand what Lupin was saying to him – Harry had just asked him to bring Audrey to be part of the mission and instead he was inviting himself along, without wanting to go and tell her where they were hidden? While Harry was trying to catch up with whatever inflection he had missed, Hermione decided to ask her questions until she understood.

"But what about Tonks?" she asked, her voice just as concerned.

"What about her?" Lupin bit back, sounding overly defensive. Hermione, looking slightly startled, gave him a look of disbelief.

"Well," said Hermione, frowning, "you're married! How does she feel about you going away with us?"

"Tonks will be perfectly safe," Lupin sounded so assured that Harry found it hard to disagree with him. "She'll be at her parents' house."

Her parents' house that had just lost all the enchantments? Her parents' house which had just been attacked and the residents tortured? No, something sounded off about his reasoning – his voice sounded too cold and distant. He almost sounded as if he wanted to be completely removed from the idea as a whole – maybe he did, because Harry couldn't find it in his imagination to think about Tonks wanting to be left behind.

"Remus," Hermione had, of course, caught on immediately. "Is everything all right? You know...between you and-"

"Everything is fine, thank you," Lupin responded pointedly, as if jabbing her with facts. Hermione, looking pink and embarrassed for having questioned him, immediately backed away. It took Lupin only a moment of realizing how horribly he'd made her feel before he shifted uncomfortably and spoke as if telling them something shameful. "Tonks is going to have a baby."

Hermione lit up, no longer pink at all. "Oh, how wonderful!"

"Excellent!" Ron agreed.

"Congratulations," Harry was actually able to stretch a smile across his face – but it didn't last long. Not when he saw how Lupin reacted to their praise...something was wrong, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.

"So... do you accept my offer?" Lupin asked as if he hadn't told them the news at all. "Will three become four, or four become five? I cannot believe that Dumbledore would have disapproved, he appointed me your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, after all. And I must tell you that I believe we are facing magic many of us have never encountered or imagined. Audrey would be an asset to you, so I agree we should include her in the plans-"

"Er...just – just to be clear," Harry stuttered slightly, putting up his hand to interrupt Lupin before he got too ahead of himself. "You want to leave Tonks at her parents' house and come away with us?"

"She'll be perfectly safe there, they'll look after her," Lupin answered it as if it was scripted and Harry had to admit that it sounded very well rehearsed – that, in itself, made it more concerning. "Harry, I'm sure James would have wanted me to stick with you."

"Well," Harry couldn't help but feel a little like Lupin was trying to make him understand he didn't, like he was treating him like a child again. He wasn't. He didn't understand what was going on, but that didn't mean he was a child. "I'm not. I'm pretty sure my father would have wanted to know why you aren't sticking with your own kid, actually."

Lupin was reluctant to answer Harry's slight demand. Ron and Hermione were clearly uncomfortable by the mention of it, considering neither one seemed to be able to look Harry or Remus in the face – if Audrey were here, she'd wrangle it out of him. If Audrey were here, she would have openly asked him what was going on...if she hadn't known by this point. Harry just hoped that his suspicions were wrong, that he wasn't thinking of...of leaving them behind...

"You don't understand," Lupin finally succumbed to the pressure, Harry already felt like he was winning.

"Explain, then."

Lupin looked ashen as he fumbled through a dry-mouthed answer. "I – I made a grave mistake in marrying Tonks. I did it against my better judgment and have regretted it very much every since."

"I see," Harry was right and he felt amazed. Audrey would have better known what to say about this too...so, he took a moment, took a deep breath and thought about the most likely thing she would come up with. It wouldn't be something about nobility – his twin sister didn't believe in nobility. She believed in something much less daring. But what would it have been? If it wasn't daring or noble, he didn't know what this situation would have been considered...he tried to think as she would, tried to mimic all those horribly guileful words that she always used so well on him. "So you're just going to dump her and the kid and run off with us?"

The answer seemed so natural that he was surprised he had to consciously think like his sister to have come up with it in the first place. Lupin, however, didn't seem to think it was natural at all. The werewolf jumped to his feet in shock, toppling over his chair and making the table screech in protest. He gave Harry such a fierce glare that for the first time, Harry could believe exactly what Lupin was: a werewolf, a hunter, someone who could inflict a lot of damage if he let out the monster within him. He wished he knew how Audrey would deal with that.

"Don't you understand what I've done to my wife and my unborn child? I should never have married her, I've made her an outcast!" Lupin kicked at the chair he'd toppled over and Harry heard it splinter lightly. "You have only ever seen me amongst the Order, or under Dumbledore's protection at Hogwarts! You don't know how most of the Wizarding world sees creatures like me! When they know of my affliction, they can barely talk to me! Don't you see what I've done? Even her own family is disgusted by our marriage, what parents want their only daughter to marry a werewolf? And the child – the child..."

Lupin looked like he had driven himself insane with his own thoughts and worries. He grabbed fistfuls of his hair and pulled as if it would calm him.

"My kind don't usually breed!" He tried to explain4. "It will be like me, I am convinced of it – how can I forgive myself, when I knowingly risked passing on my own condition to an innocent child? And if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father of whom it must always be ashamed!"

"Remus!" Everyone's eyes swivelled to Hermione and it all grew more nervous when they saw the tears in her eyes. "Don't say that – how could any child be ashamed of you?"

Lupin looked ready to answer, ready to start explaining just how the world saw him – and all Harry could think of was exactly how he saw him. How wonderfully this man had impacted his life...and how poorly he actually had impacted others because of things like this. Audrey had known he was a werewolf; he had been afraid of her...afraid to teach her. She had immediately picked up on how he wasn't as willing to know her, or how he hadn't really been so willing to help Audrey after she had tried to learn her Patronus in third year. If Audrey had heard all this, she wouldn't be as sad for him as Harry was – she would have believed every reprimanding word he was saying.

"Oh, I don't know, Hermione," Harry tried hard to harness his sister's negative energy, to think in that same clever way she always managed without trying. "I'd be pretty ashamed of him."

Lupin looked as if Harry had hit him...and he was glad. He was glad because as Harry thought about it and thought as he knew his sister so often did, he could feel the anger and the rage, as if it really was how he felt. Hell, maybe it was. It was terrible that Lupin was trying to justify leaving a child to a parentless child; that he thought it was okay to risk his own life just so that he didn't have to face what Harry had always had to face. Facing things with someone – even if they were the cause of the trouble – would always be better than facing them alone...Audrey and Harry had always fought for this – both separately and with one another, through everything they had ever lived through.

Harry had never believed it more than in this moment.

"If the new regime thinks Muggleborns are bad, what will they do to a half-werewolf whose father's in the Order?" His voice was low and sarcastic, none of them seemed to understand exactly where he was going – he felt like he had to make his anger clear enough and he felt his voice rise. "My father died trying to protect mum, Audrey and me! And do you reckon he'd tell you to abandon your kid to go on an adventure with us?"

"How – how dare you?" Lupin's voice shook. "This is not about a desire for – for danger or personal glory – how dare you suggest such a-"

"I think you're feeling a bit of a daredevil," Harry quipped with a glower, "you fancy stepping into Sirius's shoes, since he got to save Drea and you ran-"

"Harry, no!" Hermione sounded like she was begging but Harry refused to take his eyes off of Lupin's fury. It was working; this reverse psychology, or this way to make him see how ridiculous he's being, or to make him angry enough – whatever it was Audrey always did was working, he could tell. He just couldn't believe how much he was starting to believe it, too.

"I'd never have believed this," Harry shook his head. "The man who taught me to fight Dementors: a coward."

Even if Harry would have been able to grab his wand in the time that Lupin had drawn his own, he still would have been surprised by the pain he felt in his stomach and the bang that echoed in his ears as he was thrown back into the kitchen wall. He slid down to the floor while trying to catch his air, and only caught a glimpse of Lupin's cloak as he stormed from the house – he didn't even hear the pop of him Disapparating from the front step, his ears were ringing so badly.

"Harry!" wailed Hermione, running back into the kitchen with tears in her eyes. She must have run after him; he hadn't really heard her. "How could you?"

"It was easy," Harry answered, though he failed to keep his shock out of his own voice. He stood, reaching for the back of his head where he could feel a lump forming thanks to where his head had connected with the drywall. He was still shaking with anger and ran his hands through his hair even though it pulled and made the lump ache more. "It got him back where he needs to be. Don't look at me like that!"

"Don't you start on her!" Ron snarled, immediately.

"No, no – we mustn't fight!" Hermione said immediately, launching herself between them as if she was actually going to have to stop a fight. Harry didn't really understand this, why his friend didn't understand – and he clearly didn't; not with the way Ron looked down at Harry as if he was actually disgusted with him. It was as if he didn't actually understand what Harry had really done and why it had to be done in the first place.

"You shouldn't have said that stuff to Lupin," Ron told Harry sternly.

"He had it coming to him," Harry hissed back, feeling like he had to defend himself. "Drea does that kind of thing and it works every time. It might have been harsh but it was what he needed to hear so that he'd be too angry to come back. It worked, didn't it? He's gone, isn't he? And you have to know that he went back to Tonks. You don't know what it's like, Ron. Parents shouldn't leave their kids unless...unless they've got to."

"Harry," Hermione, now understanding the sentiment, went to console him but Harry wasn't in the mood to be comforted. He sighed, looking back at the door which he could barely see it down the hall as it was so dimly lit. He turned back and saw both Ron and Hermione sending each other hurried looks – Ron's looked far more acidic than Hermione's did.

Harry felt himself sigh, closing his eyes guiltily. "I know I shouldn't have called him a coward."

"No, you shouldn't," Ron said at once, his voice still angry.

"But he's acting like one," Harry said just as angrily. Hermione looked torn.

"All the same..."

"I know," Harry grumbled, feeling like he had to repeat himself as he tried to let go of all the animosity that had welled up during the argument. "But if it makes him go back to Tonks, it'll be worth it, won't it?"

Ron looked at him, his eyes angry. "Next time you decide to act like your sister...don't. She was the one who got left behind for a reason."

Harry opened his mouth to argue with him, but Ron was already storming up the stairs. Harry watched him with a dropped jaw and when Ron had disappeared from his sights, he moved to kick the same chair that Lupin had. Considering the werewolf had splintered it, it took little time before it snapped into pieces upon Harry's third kick to the leg. He kicked it more, until four pieces turned to seven...and seven turned to twelve.

After a long moment, where Harry finally was finished with the chair and had time to breathe, Hermione's presence pulled him from the sight of the gnarled chair in front of him. He looked at her sympathetic eyes and shook his head, the last of the anger dissipating. "This is how she always feels, isn't it?"

She looked worried, if not guilty as she sat down across from him. Harry slipped into a chair opposite the one he'd destroyed as he thought, trying to find words to better describe it. He fell short. Eventually, he spoke the closest words that made sense, even though they didn't seem to like enough of an explanation for what he could tell she didn't understand.

"How do you think she feels, Harry?" He settled with the answer most truthful.

"Like no one's ever listening."

---

Based off of my story Green Eyed Monster.

I do not own the Harry Potter universe or its characters. I do own Audrey Potter, her ridiculously vivid potion-making skills, and her wicked nicknames.

Thanks go out to xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, Angel of the Night Watchers, Guest, Fantasy-Mania31, Ergelina, SwiftAlice, Magimagus, LovableAmethyst129, Spottedjay, BlackRose, incitanemxx, Ferocious Mouse, bscurlygirl, Ilovecupcakesandcookies, accio-logic, Lycoris1305, The Darkest Wizard, Guest, Nicky-Maree, LRH, angrypixels, WeTheTreatys, Slytherin's Strumpet, Dark Rose Princess, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Fusion Palace, and vmockingjay12 for their fantastic reviews.

Enjoy the change of perception and please review :)