Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all that it entails belong to JK Rowling, except for Miss Leila Mae Potter.
… … … … …
Harry cautiously opened the door to reveal Ron and Hermione. Hermione squealed and threw her arms around Harry, while Ron smiled at Leila and welcomed her into a hug. Hermione then enveloped Leila in a hug while Ron clapped Harry on the back. It was so good to see them. Leila had to smile at the fact that this time last year she would have been very annoyed with 'Granger', but now she was very grateful for the strong friendship she and Hermione had formed. Leila was about to ask Hermione how she was doing when Mad-Eye Moody pushed through, causing Hermione to lose her balance and almost fall, but Ron quickly grabbed hold of her elbow to steady her.
"Change of plans. Let's get undercover before someone tries to murder them." Moody growled.
Hermione blushed as Leila grinned knowingly, while Harry had some witty retort to Moody's statement. Harry led the group into the kitchen while Leila teased Hermione causing her to blush even more. Leila laughed and walked beside Hermione further into the house behind Ron, while everyone else followed them. They stopped in the almost empty living room when Leila turned around to see who was following. Following the closest was Mr. Weasley and Kingsley, both of whom had their wands out and were checking the place over. Mr. Weasley walked to the atrium and checked the windows, while Kingsley ruffled the peered behind the curtains in the living room as Charlie walked into the room. Leila's eyes widened. She hadn't seen Charlie since the Christmas break of her fifth year. He was always busy working with dragons or for the Order abroad.
"Charlie, you're supposed to be in Romania. I thought you were doing Order work down there!" Leila exclaimed.
"You and Harry are more important, at least for tonight anyways." Charlie smiled.
Leila looked to find her brother talking to Ron and Mr. Weasley, but she quickly spun around as Bill and Fleur followed by Fred and George entered the Dursleys' former residence. Luckily, her Muggle relatives weren't there to see their house, taken over by witches and wizards. Otherwise, they probably would think that they really did want the house for some secret purpose. Fred winked at Leila as he walked closer to her, causing her to blush. Hermione elbowed her, but Leila simply rolled her eyes and tried to ignore Hermione's glances. When Fred was right before her, he wrapped his arms around Leila, and held her tight for a few seconds. Leila couldn't help but hug him back, wondering if this was right. She felt comfortable, but the embrace wasn't like Draco's. Dammit… She thought. Draco, Draco, Draco. She couldn't even look at another guy without thinking about the boy. Luckily, her frustration was short lived because she caught sight of her godfather walking in with Tonks.
"Uncle Remus!" Leila shouted.
Leila gently pushed Fred aside and ran to her godfather to hug him. Remus chuckled and hugged his goddaughter back. He still looked older than his age, but yet at the same surprisingly happy. But he couldn't possibly be this happy to see her, could he? Leila pulled back and smiled at her godfather, then moved to hug Tonks, who whispered something quietly into her ear and held up her left hand in front of Leila's face before smiling at Remus. A grin spread over Leila's face.
"You're married! Congratulations!" Leila squealed.
Leila looked between Remus and Tonks, smiling and threw her arms around both of them. They both laughed and attempted to return Leila's sloppy hug; while Harry jogged over to them to see if his ears had heard right. Harry quickly pulled his sister away from them before questioning them.
"You got married?" Harry asked.
"We're sorry that you two couldn't be there; it was a very quiet occasion." Remus said.
"That's brilliant! Congrat—" Harry began.
"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later! Right now we need to get the hell out of here!" Moody roared, pushing himself through the group.
Moody had swung back through the entryway and into the living room, and everyone in the room instantly became silent. Leila quickly scanned across the room. So many people had come to their aid tonight: Ron, Hermione, Mr. Weasley, Kingsley, Moody, Bill, Fleur, Fred, George, Remus, Tonks, Charlie, Hagrid, and… Mundungus Fletcher. Uh-oh. Leila tugged at Harry's arm to keep him from noticing the man. Leila remembered the last time she and Harry had seen the man: He had been in Hogsmeade, illegally selling off Sirius' belongings. That had also been the day that Katie Bell had been cursed by… Leila shook her head trying to forget the rest of the story. She simply hoped that Harry could refrain from his temper at least until they were safe. Moody cleared his throat and everyone turned their attention to him.
"Problem one: We've had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of protection for the two of you, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. It's a load of… Well, it's absolutely pointless, seeing as Lily's charm already does that. What he's really done is to stop you getting out of here safely." Moody growled.
"Then how…" Harry began.
"Not finished yet, Potter. Second problem: You're both underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you." Moody said.
"What's the Trace?" Harry asked.
"The Trace, the Trace!" Moody said impatiently.
"It's the charm that detects the magical activity of those under seventeen. It's how the Ministry finds out about underage magic, which we've obviously never had a problem with before, Harry." Leila said, adding a sarcastic tone at the end.
"No, of course you haven't. Only a fly-away dessert, a blown-up aunt, a…." Fred began listing.
"Shut up, Fred." Leila said.
Leila turned around to Fred, who was standing mere feet from her. Fred smiled at Leila, causing her to blush once more and roll her eyes at him. He simply chuckled while Hermione pulled Leila facing forward again as Moody continued.
"What your sister is trying to say, Potter, is that if you sneezed the Ministry would know who wipes your nose. The point is that we have to use those means of transportation that the Trace can't detect: brooms, thestrals, and the like." Moody said.
Leila looked at her brother who appeared to be biting his tongue. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who could see flaws in this plan. Harry remained silent, while the doubts consumed Leila's thoughts.
"We go in pairs. That way if anyone is out there waiting for us; which I reckon there will be. They won't know which twin is the real one." Moody said.
"And how exactly are we going to do that? Harry's a boy and I'm a girl, honestly, its common sense." Leila said doubtfully.
"I forgot to mention the key point. There will be four pairs of Potter twins in the skies tonight: four Harry's and four Leila's, each of them with a companion. And now for the tricky part… I believe you both are familiar with this particular brew." Moody grinned.
Moody withdrew two flasks from inside his cloak and shook them a bit. Leila immediately knew what was in the flasks, even though she had never taken the potion herself. Rather, she had helped Harry, Ron, and Hermione brew the potion second year to sneak them into the Slytherin common room so that they could chat with Draco, whom they believed to be the Heir of Slytherin.
"Polyjuice Potion!" Leila gasped.
"No! No way! Absolutely not!" Harry shouted, his voice ringing through the entire house.
"I told you Harry would take this well." Hermione said sarcastically.
"No, if you think I'm going to let everyone risk their lives for me…" Harry began.
"Never done that before have we?" Ron said.
"This is different, taking that? Becoming me? No!" Harry said loudly.
"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry. I mean, imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as a specky, scrawny git forever! But I suppose being Leila wouldn't be that bad…" Fred said.
"Everyone here's of age, Potter, and they're all prepared to take the risk." Moody interrupted Fred.
"Technically, I've been coerced." Mundungus said, speaking-up for the first time that night.
"Nip it, Mundungus!" Moody growled.
"Leila, aren't you going to say anything?" Harry questioned.
Harry quickly turned to his sister who had remained silent after her initial reaction. Leila had made no fuss over the plan. Actually, as far as plans go, she thought that this one was fairly well planned out, well as much as one could plan this type of thing. Like Harry, she wasn't overly fond of people becoming them, but she couldn't see another choice in the matter.
"Harry, it doesn't seem that terrible of a plan." Leila sighed.
"Not that terrible? Letting these people risk their lives for us?" Harry hissed.
"And what about our lives? Have you got a better plan?" Leila asked.
Harry looked at his sister and shook his head. Leila hoped that he would see some sense, even if she still held her own doubts in the plan. Moody held out the flasks before Harry and Leila. Leila grabbed a few strands of her long hair and put them into one of the flasks. Moody swirled the potion, making sure that it mixed properly. He then held out the other flask in Harry's direction. But Harry took a step backward and refused to put his hair in the flask; attempting to cover his head with his arms.
"Y-you can't do it if I don't cooperate." Harry said.
"Well, that's that plan scuppered. Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate." George said.
"Yeah, fifteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've really got no chance." Fred said.
"Funny, really amusing." Harry said sarcastically.
"Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. Granger, as discussed." Moody said.
Harry slowly put his arms down, trying to turn and see what Hermione was up to. But, Hermione walked up to Harry and yanked a chunk of hair from the back of his head. If the situation hadn't been so serious, Leila probably would have burst out laughing. So instead, she opted for a slight smile, which she tried to keep from spreading across her face. Harry's hand instantly flew to the back of his head and he rubbed the spot where his hair had been pulled out.
"Blimey, Hermione." Harry hissed.
"Straight in here, if you please." Moody said.
Hermione dropped Harry's hairs into the second flask. Hermione peered into the flask which held the hairs she had forcibly taken from Harry. A pleasant look covered her face.
"Ooh, you look so much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry." Hermione said.
Leila noticed Ron raise his eyebrows with a slight look of jealousy on his face, so she fake coughed, which caused Hermione to make eye contact with Ron. Hermione face began to blush as she struggled to find the proper explanation.
"Oh, you know what I mean—Goyle's potion looked like bogies." Hermione said.
"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please. Leila's on the right, Harry's on the left." Moody said.
"Is that my left or your left?" Fred asked.
"My left, Weasley." Moody growled.
Fred whispered something to George before standing at the beginning of the line. The fake Harry's were going to be Fred, George, and Ron; while the fake Leila's would be Hermione, Fleur, and…
"We're one Leila short." Remus said.
Hagrid lifted Mundungus Fletcher up by the scruff of his neck and placed him beside Fleur for a fake Leila. Fleur wrinkled her nose and moved to the other side of Hermione. Harry and Leila walked away from the line, seeing as they didn't have to drink the potion to be themselves.
"I've toldjer; I'd sooner be a protector." Mundungus said.
"Shut it. As I've already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eater we run into will be aiming to capture them, not kill them. Dumbledore always said You-Know-Who would want to finish them in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about; the Death Eaters will want to kill them." Moody said.
Mundungus stood there with his mouth hanging wide, apparently not too pleased with the task he had been forced into. Moody walked over and handed the Leila flask to Fleur and slowly walked to the fake Harry side of the room.
"All right then, for those of you who haven't taken Polyjuice Potion before; fair warning, it tastes like goblin piss." Moody said.
"Have lots of experience with that do you, Mad-Eye?' Fred asked.
"The taste depends on who you're imitating." Leila muttered.
Moody simply glared at Fred, who nodded and grabbed the Harry flask from Moody.
"Just trying to diffuse the tension." Fred said lightly.
Fred took a chug from the Harry flask while Fleur had already drank her portion and was handing the flask to Hermione. Leila and Harry watched as the others features slowly became theirs. It seemed like their features began to bubble and distort, but one thing they all had in common, they all were shrinking. Well, except for Mundungus, who grew about an inch. It was odd seeing three Harry's and three Leila's panting in front of them. At first, no one spoke, but Fred and George quickly turned to each other and grinned.
"Wow—we're identical!" Fred and George said together.
"Not yet you're not." Moody growled pointing to the sacks.
Moody grabbed the bag and tossed the contents on the floor. The fake Harry, which stood where George had been standing, was the first to lean over and grab a red long-sleeved shirt and examine it, while two other Harry's (Ron and Fred) bent down to grab some clothes. The fake Harry's had red long-sleeved shirts, jeans, and jackets to change into. The fake Leila's had blue pull-over sweatshirts and jeans.
"You haven't got anything a bit more sporting, have you?" George asked.
"Yeah, I don't really fancy this color." Fred added.
"Fancy this, you're not you, so shut it and strip." Moody growled.
"All right, all right." Mundungus said.
"You two need to change too." Moody said.
Leila quickly pulled off her green sweatshirt and pulled the blue one over her t-shirt; her jeans were already the same. That was easy enough. When she had finished, Leila looked around and was appalled to find one if the Leila's peered down her tacky button-up shirt; but Moody walked over and slapped the fake one upside the head.
"She's underage you pervert." Moody hissed.
"Sorry." Mundungus muttered.
Leila rolled her eyes at the insincere apology, while a very defensive-looking Harry (she wasn't sure if it was the real one or a fake one) roughly shoved a blue sweatshirt over Mundungus' head. Leila turned to find herself, whom she assumed to be Fleur, already changed, but she was turning away from Bill in shame.
"Bah. Bill, look away – I'm 'ideous." Fleur groaned.
"Excuse me?" Leila hissed.
"She didn't mean it that way, Leila." Bill said, attempting to cover for Fleur.
"Eet eez just zat…" Fleur began.
"Leila, come here." a Harry called out to her.
"Phlegm." Leila muttered under her breath.
Leila walked over to where two Harry's were standing, examining each other in a mirror that remained on the wall.
"I dunno, though, I still think that I'm better looking, Georgie." The Harry assumed to be Fred said.
"Wouldn't count on that, Fred." The Harry assumed to be George grinned.
"What do you say Leila?" Fred asked.
"You look like my brother." Leila groaned.
"So? I'm still more dashing, right?" Fred asked.
"No comment." Leila said shaking her head.
"I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo." Ron said.
Ron now stood behind, Fred and George, trying to get a better look at himself in the mirror. Leila simply shook her head and moved to stand next to the only Harry not examining himself in the mirror; the one she knew to be her brother. Her brother had already changed and appeared to just be taking everything in. This was a lot to process seeing doppelgangers of themselves roaming freely through a house they never were truly welcome in. Leila became slightly confused when she came to talk to herself.
"Leila, you really are short." A fake Leila said.
"I'm 5'1 ½'' thank you very much, Hermione." Leila quipped.
"But really, it seems like such a different perspective from a few inches down." Hermione said.
"Will you shut it?" Leila chuckled.
"All right, all right, listen up." Moody shouted.
Harry, Leila, and Hermione stayed where they were and simply turned to face Moody, while the rest of the doppelgangers scurried to finish their ensembles.
"The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus, stick tight to me. I want to keep an eye on you. Arthur and Fred…" Moody began.
"I'm George. Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?" said one of the Harry's to whom Moody was pointing.
"Sorry, George…" Moody grumbled.
"I'm only yanking your wand, I'm Fred really…" Fred smiled.
"Enough messing around! This situation is of grave seriousness!" Moody snarled.
"Sorry." Fred muttered.
"Now where were we? Oh yes, the other one—Fred or George or whoever the bloody hell you are – you're with Remus," Moody began to explain.
"Why aren't I going with Remus? He is my godfather after all." Leila pointed out.
"Because by this point, we expect Snape to have spilled all our secrets to You-Know-Who; he'll expect you to be accompanied by Lupin. Now, Miss Delacour…" Moody said.
"I'm taking Fleur by thestral. She's not that fond of brooms." Bill said.
Leila watched as a clone of herself walked over to Bill and wrapped her arm tightly around his middle. Leila rolled her eyes in disgust. She was too preoccupied with her own thoughts that she missed the look of jealousy that momentarily covered Fred's face.
"Of course she's not." Leila muttered.
"I thought you liked Fleur?" Hermione whispered.
"I did until she said that I was 'ideous." Leila mimicked.
"I'm sure she didn't mean it like that." Hermione sighed.
"Oh, but she did." Leila whispered hotly.
"Quit the girly gossip, Potter, and listen up!" Moody growled.
"But sir…" Harry began.
"Not you Potter; your sister." Moody roared.
"And you wonder why we're confused?" Leila said sarcastically.
"Enough! Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by thestral." Moody said.
Kingsley smiled at Hermione, who returned a weak smile back. It was common knowledge that Hermione wasn't particularly fond of brooms either. She would play Quidditch if she was forced, but flying wasn't something that one could learn from reading books.
"Looks like it's you and me, Ron!" Tonks smiled.
Ron nodded his head in agreement, but the look on his face told that Tonks was the last person he wanted to be with tonight. Sure, Tonks was a little clumsy, but she was still a well-trained Auror. Not just anybody could get into the program.
"As for Harry and Leila, That's where things get tricky. We think that the Death Eaters will expect you both to be on brooms." Moody said.
"Of course, we're both good fliers." Harry said.
"Exactly, why you won't be taking to the air on a broom." Moody said.
"But…" Harry began to complain.
"Harry, he said that they'd expect that. They'd be looking for Potters who are comfortable on a broomstick. Moody already said that Snape's probably already told them everything about us." Leila said.
"Or Draco has." Harry said.
"Does everything always have to go back to him?" Leila snapped.
"That's not the point. You saw the same thing I saw." Harry said.
"What'd you see, Potter?" Moody asked.
"Leila?" Harry asked.
"We—we saw Draco Malfoy's eagle owl flying over Privet Drive." Leila sighed.
The room instantly hushed in silence as everyone in the room looked between Harry and Leila. No one was sure what to say; but Leila could feel the tension rise in the room. No one was bold enough to voice their thoughts; but they were thinking the same thing. Could the Death Eaters already be onto them? Had someone, someone in the Order, leaked the confidential details of tonight's mission?
"I don't get it, what's he got to do with anything?" Mundungus said breaking the silence.
"The kid's a Death Eater, you nitwit." Moody growled.
"Maybe it's merely a coincidence." Hermione added.
"I don't believe in coincidence." Moody shot.
"Perhaps, Hermione's right." Ron said in Hermione's defense.
"Oh? And what theory do you have, Weasley?" Moody asked.
"Erm…well, you know, maybe something to do with Leila and last year?" Ron said, his gaze shifting to the floor uncomfortably.
"What happened last year?" Mundungus asked.
Silence once again took over the group. Leila could feel her cheeks ablaze. At this rate, she'd never get over Draco considering how much he was brought up in conversation, or something happened to make her think of him. But she had to fight the lingering feelings she had for him. He chose his side. He chose to side with Voldemort, something Leila could never forgive.
"Can someone please explain what the Weasley boy's talking about?" Mundungus asked.
"Well, you see…" Ron began.
"Erm…" Harry began.
"It's quite complicated actually…" Hermione began.
"The Potter girl was romantically entangled with the Malfoy boy last year, now moving on…" Moody said.
"How do you know about that? And I wouldn't phrase it that way." Leila shot back.
"How I know and how you'd phrase it don't exactly matter right now. What matters is that the Death Eaters may be on to us, and we still need to get the two of you out of here safely. Harry, you're going with Hagrid on Sirius' old motorbike. Leila, you'll be accompanied by Charlie Weasley on a thestral. Now, I'm giving you three minutes before we leave. No point in locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. Let's go." Moody growled.
Leila moved to grab her two bags and her Firebolt, but Harry held her back for a second. He didn't say anything, but handed her his Invisibility Cloak. Leila looked at him questioningly.
"Harry, I can't take this." Leila whispered.
"Just in case. Besides, it won't be able to hide me and Hagrid." Harry said.
Leila sighed and reluctantly tucked the cloak into one of her bags. She reached for her Firebolt and remembered her Nimbus 2001 upstairs. She left it there mainly because the broom reminded her too much of Draco. She was about to swing the second bag over her shoulder when Charlie grabbed it from her. He ushered her out the door and led her to one of the thestrals.
"Girls never pack light." Charlie muttered.
"I could have grabbed it myself if it's too much of a problem." Leila said.
"Its fine, I got it." Charlie smiled.
"Then why the stereotype?" Leila asked.
"Just forget I said anything." Charlie groaned.
"Do you have a problem with the fairer sex?" Leila asked.
"No, just prefer dragons, that's all." Charlie said.
Charlie held out his hand to help Leila onto the thestral, when a Harry quickly ran up to them. Leila looked to Charlie, who nodded, so she walked over to him.
"Harry?" Leila asked.
"It's actually me, Fred." He whispered.
"Oh. How did you know it was really me?" Leila asked.
"The look of utter despair on your face gave you away. And I saw you walking with Charlie." Fred chuckled
"And what did you need, Fred?" Leila asked.
"Well, I just figured that since we're both risking our lives tonight I didn't want to take the chance of dying without…" Fred began.
Fred angled his head and leaned down to kiss her. Leila turned her cheek to him and held her hands out to push him away. He kissed her cheek, opened his eyes, and stepped back with a look of disappointment on his face. Leila turned back to him, crossing her arms across her chest, feeling slightly guilty.
"Sorry. I just thought that after everything that maybe you felt the same way. I just thought…" Fred began, sounding flustered.
"Fred, you look like my brother." Leila sighed.
"Yeah, I know. I took the bloody Polyjuice Potion didn't I? I can't believe what an idiot…" Fred began again.
"Fred, you look like my brother." Leila said slowly, enunciating every syllable.
"Oh!" Fred said, color rising to his cheeks.
"Please don't take it personally, it's not that I didn't want to; but I would be scarred for life with a mental image of my brother kissing me, even though I would know it was you." Leila said.
"Right…erm…" Fred stuttered.
Leila quickly hugged him, wished him good luck and walked back to Charlie who was laughing to himself. Leila looked around to see if anyone else had seen the event, but no one else was looking at her. So either they had all seen it and were avoiding eye contact or none of them saw it. Leila stepped onto Charlie's hands as he boosted her up onto the thestral. This wasn't the first time she had flown by thestral before. During fifth year, when they had tried to go to the Ministry to save Sirius, which turned out to be a trap set by Voldemort. Leila was shaken out of her reverie by Charlie hopping onto the thestral. Her belongings were strapped to the thestral, and it was almost time to leave.
"So, you and Fred?" Charlie chuckled.
"Shut up." Leila hissed.
"You might want to hold on." Charlie whispered.
"Good luck everyone; head for the allotted safe house. See you all in about an hour at the Burrow, we rendezvous there. On the count of three. One…two…THREE!" Moody shouted.
Charlie dug his heels into the thestrals side, causing its wing's to flap. Leila lurched forward onto Charlie, wrapping her arms around him. The broomsticks raced off, the thestrals took to the air, and the motorbike roared forward. The thestral she was on rose higher and higher into the night sky. Leila quickly peeked back at the place she was never to call home again, not that it was much of a home to begin with. The wind whipped across her face. Leila wished that she had thought to put her hair up before they left.
"Charlie, where are we going?" Leila asked.
Charlie never responded to Leila's question because out of nowhere Death Eater formed a giant circle around the Order members. Leila could hear screams and see jets of green light. Charlie once more dug his heels into the thestrals side causing it to gain more momentum, as they separated from the rest of the group. She took one look back at her brother to see his belongings falling from the sidecar. Leila screamed for her brother but was even more surprised when several Death Eaters tailed her and Charlie. Charlie tried his best to urge the creature to move faster, but the Death Eaters were gaining on them. Leila's initial reaction was to close her eyes and cringe in fear; but her thoughts quickly turned to the last time she had been in peril. She could hear Harry's words ringing in her head…You're braver than you think… Leila took a deep breath, reached for her wand, and aimed it at one of the Death Eaters.
"Stupefy!" Leila shouted.
A bolt of red light shot out of Leila's wand. The Death Eater crumpled over, but there were still another four Death Eaters closely trailing them. A slight panic rose inside her; but she continued to send spells at the Death Eaters as they shot spells back. Leila deflected and dodged the spells, but she was only one underage witch compared to Voldemort's Dark followers. But she had to fight. Fight for Harry. Fight for Cedric. Fight for Sirius. Fight for Mum and Dad. Now wasn't the time to play nice, this was her life as well as Charlie's on the line. Leila quickly deflected a spell headed for her, but the thestral lunged forward causing Leila to jerk and her satchel bag to fall. Leila reached for her bag, catching it by the strap; but the pocket containing her mother's necklace with Draco's ring on it fell out of the bag and plummeted through the sky. Leila gasped and tried to reach for it; but Charlie's strong arm quickly wrapped around her.
"It's my mother's necklace!" Leila shouted at Charlie.
Charlie tried to shout over her so that the Death Eaters couldn't hear her; but it was too late. A Death Eater zoomed forward to her falling necklace. Leila watched as if in slow-motion as the Death Eater grabbed the necklace and looked back up to them.
"You filthy half-blood!" a scream echoed through the chilled air.
Leila cursed under her breath. She recognized the scream belonging to Bellatrix Lestrange. Leila assumed that by this point, Bellatrix knew of her and Draco. Now with actual evidence, Leila's screaming, and an unstable Death Eater; they were surely goners. Leila closed her eyes, breathing deeply, fearing that her death was almost imminent. Leila opened her eyes and looked through the empty night sky. The Death Eaters had disappeared from sight. Things seemed all right, but things were never as they seemed. Things were quiet, too quiet.
"Charlie, how far are we?" Leila whispered.
Leila's hair whipped in her face. She couldn't hear Charlie's answer because a deafening scream filled the night air. Leila turned around to find Voldemort quickly catching up to them. Her hand quickly flew to her mouth to hold back the curse words that threatened to spill from her mouth.
"Your brother may have thwarted me; but you will not be so lucky!" Voldemort screamed.
"We should be almost there!" Charlie shouted over his shoulder.
Harry was safe and they should hopefully reach the protection soon. An unknown courage surged through Leila as she pointed her wand at Voldemort sending every spell his way that popped into her mind. Stupefy! Stupefy! Protego! Petrificus Totalus! Crucio! Stupefy! Protego! Voldemort seemed to deflect most of her spells with ease, as an evil grin crept across his face and his wand pointed at her. Leila was about to scream, when she lurched forward falling onto Charlie. Voldemort was no longer tailing them, it was as if a dome protected them, and he was stuck on the outside of the dome. Leila could swear that she could see the anger surge through the Voldemort; but nothing happened.
"We're in the protections, aren't we?" Leila whispered.
"Yeah, it looks like they're working. We should be safe from here. Now to find the place." Charlie said.
"Have you been here before?" Leila asked.
"Once or twice." Charlie said.
"I—I'm sorry." Leila muttered.
"For what?" Charlie asked.
"I—I gave us away. Bellatrix…" Leila said.
"Leila, you fought brilliantly. You couldn't have known." Charlie said.
"But Voldemort…" Leila cried.
"We're both safe now and that's what matters. I think that I see the place." Charlie said avoiding the subject.
The thestral landed onto the lawn and Leila once more lurched forward onto Charlie. When they came to a stop, Charlie quickly jumped off the thestral and held out his hand to help Leila off. She accepted his hand and grabbed her belongings and started walking towards the lights of an unfamiliar house.