Chapter 9

Chaos surrounded him. Harry had absolutely no idea what was going on. He wasn't even sure which way was up. Bright jets of green and red shot past him in all directions. The low gruff screams mixed with the one high screech rang in his ears. His scar burned like mad. If it hadn't already been pitch black, then Harry would've surely fallen into darkness.

The same pair of rough hands kept a tight hold of him. Instinct told Harry to trust whomever this was. Was it possible that help had come again? Could he actually this much luck? He felt himself being moved up the stairs, the screaming growing dimmer.

Everything ended as quickly as it had begun. Somehow Harry was being Apparated away from Voldemort. He still didn't understand any of it, but when he felt his feet land firmly on the ground, he was smiling.

Beside him, hand still on his arm, was Remus Lupin. The first coherent thing that came from Harry was, "How…?" But Lupin just shook his head and pulled Harry towards the house. He realized this must be where Lupin lived.

Once they were inside the safe walls Harry tried again. "Lupin, how did you find us? What happened? Is everyone out?" he looked around; no one else seemed to be here yet. Suddenly, he remembered the last time he had seen Lupin, in Grimmauld Place. Tension filled the room as Lupin too apparently recalled their last talk.

"Lupin, I'm sorry about what I said…" Harry apologized.

"None of that now." Lupin cut him off. "Harry, everyone else is fine. We're to join them in a few minutes. We just want to make sure Vol… You-Know-Who won't try to track your mind like you did to him." He smiled as the shocked expression on Harry's face. "Hermione." Lupin stated simply.

Of course Hermione had saved them. Harry was filled with extreme gratitude to her. If not for her… they would've all died.

"You still haven't answered everything," Harry prodded.

"Well, I'm not sure if everyone got out yet, because we haven't met up with them yet. And as for what happened…" he smiled. "It was rather clever for such short notice. Kingsley had a Hand of Glory, hoping it could be useful some day.

"We worked a complicated charm to spread the effects of the Hand so that the six of us who went down there could all have light. Tricky business. Anyway, we didn't have much time to act so we followed Hermione and just went down."

"That's it?" Harry asked incredulously. They could've all been killed so very easily. Was that really all the planning they had done? Then again, had they waited longer, Harry would've probably been dead.

"That's it. And I think it worked quite nicely, as far as I could tell. Tell me Harry, what exactly were you planning on doing down there? Hermione wouldn't tell us."

Again Harry was very proud of Hermione for keeping her cool and saving them as smoothly as humanly possible. "You-Know-Who got to the Dursleys,"

"Yes, we heard. Hestia and Dedalus are dead, aren't they?" Lupin's face aged almost ten years. Harry guessed he must've been closer with the pair than he'd known.

Harry nodded slowly, not wanting to answer him aloud. Lupin's head dropped a bit but he asked Harry to continue.

"Well I couldn't just leave them there," What more did he need to explain? They were his family; surely Lupin could understand that. "He killed my uncle. To try to make me angry. He wanted a more… enthusiastic response from me." Anger boiled within him as he remembered the events of only a few minutes previously. Already it seemed like ages ago.

"Harry you can't be blaming yourself for that?" a slightly exasperated Lupin asked. "If you hadn't gone he would've killed them anyway. Your aunt and cousin are alive because you went." Harry nodded, though he knew Lupin had no more idea than he did about the others' fates.

"That's not to say it wasn't extremely foolish," Lupin continued. "Why didn't you contact the Order for help?"

Harry didn't have much of an answer to that one. "Er…" that probably would've been wiser, but he'd been on the run for so long that he had almost forgotten just how many people out there were willing to help him. "I guess I didn't want to drag anyone else into it?" he said it more as a question. Lupin was not satisfied, but he let it drop for now.

"So how have you been?" Lupin asked conversationally. Harry again vividly remembered their last meeting.

"Great," Harry replied as sarcastically as was possible. "Nothing like being on the run." Odd, right around now would've been when Hermione would start nagging them to prepare for their N.E.. Ron and Harry would've scoffed at her, wondering why they should study months in advance.

They would probably never even see Hogwarts again; though Harry still persisted in reminding Ron and Hermione that it was the most obvious hiding place for a Horcrux. They just didn't want to risk it.

Lupin laughed bitterly. "I know the feeling." He paused. "So, how is it going… whatever you're doing?" Harry could see the curiosity burning in Lupin's eyes. For now though, it still needed to be kept between him, Ron, and Hermione.

But he could give him a half answer. "It's going alright. It's pretty hard, but it feels like Dumbledore is almost leading the way." Lupin nodded in agreement. Beyond the grave, Dumbledore was still extremely influential. "How're things going with you? How is Tonks doing?"

"Tonks is glowing," Lupin said proudly. It seemed his old feelings had dissolved, and for this, Harry was extremely glad. "And most of the Order are in hiding, or at least the major members are." Which reminded Harry,

"Heard your show, Romulus," he grinned. "It's brilliant!

"Thanks," Lupin smiled, reddening slightly. "We like bringing hope to the wizarding community. I'm glad to hear you've caught a few installments," Harry nodded.

"So, besides keeping up with the news and all… what exactly is the Order doing?" if they were in hiding, it had to be difficult to be doing anything major in the fight against Voldemort. Harry was definitely having a tough time getting anything done.

Lupin looked away from Harry. "It's difficult, Harry," he paused, searching for the right words. "We're still trying to recruit, but so many people have lost hope. They're terrified for their families and for themselves. That's why our radio program is so imperative. We inform them about what is really happening, but more importantly, we're standing up to the Death Eaters by telling the truth. It really inspires people.

"And next week when I tell them I've talked with you, that you're still out there working for something… Harry, you have no idea how comforting to them it will be. Not to put more pressure on you… but don't do anything stupid and get yourself killed. What little optimism is left will be extinguished immediately. You're the only threat You-Know-Who is worried about right now. Please don't pull any more stunts like this. Come to me, or Kingsley for help.

"We can't lose you," Lupin finished. Harry nodded again, looking as far away from Lupin as possible. He knew it had been idiotic, even selfish of him to risk his neck, but he hadn't known what else to do. The worst of it was, though he was promising Lupin that he would come to him for help, at some point, Harry would have to do this on his own.

He would have to face and kill Voldemort, and no one, not Lupin or Kingsley or anyone else, would be able to help him. Again, he just nodded to Lupin, making him think that he would later ask for help, but knowing he would not.

They settled into silence, it was not awkward this time, but just a nice, tired stillness. About ten minutes later, Lupin told Harry that it would probably be safe to meet up with the others and see how Ron, Petunia, and Dudley were doing.

With a crack they Apparated and Harry opened his eyes to another unfamiliar surrounding. Startled, the people in the room stood and immediately raised their wands.

Lupin held up his hands in surrender to the other Order members and said, "I am Remus Lupin, werewolf and active Order member. Next to me is Harry Potter who we just saved from You-Know-Who himself." And with that, the Order relaxed.

Lupin, however, did not lower his wand. He kept a tight hold of Harry's shoulder, ready to Apparate if someone here was not who they claimed to be. The other men in the room made similar claims and introductions.

Kingsley told Harry that the others were in the next room. Harry sighed gratefully, knowing Kingsley would have been told if someone was missing. He knocked once on the door and entered.

Hermione jumped up to greet him, remnants of past tears still on her cheeks. He hugged her tightly and whispered, "Thanks for not listening to us," she laughed weakly. Harry shuddered to think what would have happened if Hermione had not gotten nervous all alone in their tent.

Next Harry looked to Ron, who was smiling but looked very weak. It would've been his fault entirely if Ron had died. Across the small room Dudley and Petunia were taking up as little space as was humanly possible. Which was quite a feat for his large cousin. Petunia seemed to have gone into shock, she was no longer crying but just staring blankly around the room.

Upon his entrance, Dudley looked up and tried to smile, but failed. Harry knew that the Dursleys had never been the closest family in the world, but nevertheless, it was still a huge blow to Dudley to lose his father. Hell, Harry was upset, and Vernon had hated him for most of his life.

"Dudley…" Harry didn't know what to say to his cousin. Before he could think of anything, Dudley held up his hand and interrupted,

"Harry, you saved our lives. Thanks." Harry nodded, a little surprised. Dudley was not usually a man of so many words. His cousin looked different, it had been over six months since he had last seen him, but he hadn't expected him to change so much. He had grown a bit taller, and had lost a lot of weight. But he also looked older, wiser. Dudley had faced his fair share of horrors over the past few months too.

"No problem," Harry finally responded. He didn't know what else to say. In the next room, Harry could hear Lupin telling the others much of what they had just talked about. The silence was piercing.

Hermione couldn't contain herself any longer. "Harry, I'm so glad you're alright! I was so worried Lupin wasn't going to get there in time! Oh Harry," she hugged him again, and the tears returned. Harry patted her back gently, and held her shaking body tightly. He glanced to Ron, who was in too much pain even care.

Dudley watched their embrace with a stoic expression. After a few minutes, he cleared his throat and Harry looked to him.

"Er, Harry, can I talk to you for a minute? Privately." Harry nodded, a little puzzled. There was a door at the back of this room that the two of them exited through. Once Harry had shut it behind him Dudley asked, "Is it over? Have you killed Him?"

Harry froze, not knowing how to put this kindly. Dudley and Petunia would still have to hide out until this was over. It could be months or even years. "Er, no, Dudley. I didn't. Not yet." Though Harry did have a feeling that Voldemort wouldn't try as hard to find the Dursleys again. It was odd to think of the Dursleys as only having two members now.

Dudley's face fell. He couldn't stand another minute of this life. "Why not? Why can't you just kill him and get it over with?" he knew he was probably being ignorant, but he didn't care.

"Dud, it's complicated," Harry hedged.

"Complicated my ass! Harry what the hell have you been doing if not trying to kill this guy?"

Harry sighed. "Look, it's a lot more difficult than it sounds." He thought for a moment and decided on something. "Dudley, can I tell you a secret?"

"Yeah, I guess," Dudley, said, taken aback by the change in manner. He would've liked to cuss some more, but he thought it would be best if he let Harry explain.

"I'm serious, man, you can't tell anyone about this, not even your mum." Harry warned. Dudley nodded, looking extremely interested.

"You-Know-Who is immortal. He's locked away six pieces of his soul into six different objects. We've taken care of three of them, but there are still another three out there. I can't kill him until we destroy everything else." Harry gauged Dudley's incredulous expression. Silence filled the room.

"Wow," was all Dudley could think to say.

"Yeah, so we've been searching all over for them, but we have no idea where to look. Even He doesn't know we're doing this, so you have to swear to keep this a secret," it was imperative that Dudley didn't tell anyone about this, or word would somehow get back to Voldemort.

"We already know what two of the three things are and we have theories about their whereabouts, but it's slow work. No one can see me or the Death Eaters will come. If He even hears about what we're doing, He's going to take all three objects, and make sure I can never get to them." Harry didn't know why he was telling Dudley all of this. He just wanted to confide in someone besides Ron and Hermione.

He felt like a weight had been lifted, and it felt good. As Dudley processed all that he said, Harry was struck with another inspiration. "Dudley, if Vol-, if You-Know-Who does get to me first, I want to you to talk to Ron and Hermione and get them to tell Lupin or Kingsley all of this. Can you do that for me?" Harry knew if he tried to tell Ron and Hermione himself, they would just ask him why he was planning on getting himself killed.

Dudley nodded mutely. He couldn't imagine contemplating his own death, let alone so calmly. But his cousin was already making arrangements, plans, in case he did die. Wow.

"So, you are the Chosen One, or whatever they call you, right?" the way Harry was talking, it sounded like he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's got to be me. I'm not sure why yet, but it does." Neither can live while the other survives. The words of the prophecy ran through his head. He sighed and sat down. He hadn't realized just how tired he was. Somehow, he also hadn't realized just how much pain his leg was in. He clenched his teeth together and bit back a groan.

He just wanted to sleep now, and to have Hermione heal his leg. But Dudley still had another question. He didn't want to sound stupid, but he had to ask, "Is there, a, er, spell that can…" Harry cut him off, guessing by his tone where he was going.

"No, I'm sorry. He can't come back." Harry watched Dudley's face fall even more. Harry knew exactly how he felt, for Dumbledore, for Sirius, for his own parents. "It'll be okay, Dudley. It doesn't hurt so much after a while," Dudley just nodded mutely. Harry realized that this was the first death Dudley had ever experienced. He placed a hand on his cousin's shoulder and left the room.

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Author's note: There's only going to be one more chapter, and it's more of an epilogue. I hope you liked this story, and thanks to all of you who have reviewed.