Chapter 2

Escape from Little Whinging

Voldemort was furious that his plan to kill Harry Potter had failed. He had it on good authority that Dumbledore intended to leave the boy with his relatives' for at least a month to recharge the blood wards surrounding the house, but the boy was nowhere to be found. He had been so pleased when he had been informed that the boy would be returning his relatives, protected only by a single guard and Dumbledore's precious blood wards. The muggle loving fool hadn't realized that the power that fueled the blood wards was useless now that the same blood ran through his veins. While his followers may not be able to come within a mile of the house, there was nothing preventing him from paying the Potter boy a visit himself.

After the failure at the Ministry he had taken a few days to recover and formulate a plan. He had decided that if everyone knew of his return, he may as well take care of their so-called 'Chosen One'. Finding the house hadn't been difficult, but had required some time as only a small handful of wizards knew where the boy lived, all of them followers of the old muggle-loving fool. But he was nothing if not clever and, with a little encouragement, it had only taken a muggle detective a few days to find that the Dursleys lived at Number 4 Privet Drive in Little Whinging, Surrey. Voldemort had then spent the last few hours setting up the large anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards to prevent the boys escape and prevent any from coming to his aid. He had put in all that time and effort, only to find that his efforts were in vain, the boy was no longer in the house.

He looked down at the broken man at his feet, bleeding and barely conscious, his limbs sticking out at odd angles. 'How did such a pathetic whale think so highly of himself?' he asked himself. After arriving to find the boy missing, Voldemort had woken the family to find where the boy had gone. The fat Muggle on the ground in front of him had started shouting at him, yelling about freaks and unnaturalness. The nerve of the the Muggle to speak that way to one of his betters. It seemed he had learned his lesson though, as he lay on the floor, a broken mess. It had been some time since he had attempted to insult Voldemort, though that likely had something to do with his missing tongue. No, this quivering mass of filth would never insult his betters again. Looking back up at the other two people in the room he smiled. The boy was trying to push himself into the corner in an attempt to avoid his notice. The woman was trying to shield him with her body and failing miserably. The boy was at least five times her width. Tears stained both of their faces as they tried to look at anything other than their husband and father.

"Now, will you tell me where the boy has gone or will I have to get angry?" he asked, smiling at the fear in their eyes and the whimper coming from the whale in the corner. He already knew they didn't have any idea where the boy had gone, he doubted they even knew when he had left, but it had been a long time since he had truly been able to enjoy himself, so he decided he would savor this. He had found the evidence himself of a hasty getaway. An unlocked door, the cupboard holding the boys wizardly possessions left partially open, missing only his wand, his broom and his cloak of invisibility. The perfect tools for a hasty getaway.

"We told you," Petunia managed to sob, "the boy was in his room when we went to sleep, he hasn't left the house since he arrived. We don't know anything, please let us – AAHHHHH!" her speech cut off by the sudden screams that always accompany that Cruciatus Curse. It was too bad really. If they had been able to provide information he might have killed them quickly.

"Come now, you must have some knowledge of the boy," he said, ending the curse, "he has lived here since he was a child. You don't expect me to believe you know nothing, do you?" Of course he did believe her. The fat man had folded seconds after the torture had begun and attempted to give up the boy, giving him all their very limited knowledge about him. It was all useless. They considered him to be beneath their knowledge, worthy only of their scorn. It surprised him to find that they reminded him of some of the more cruel children at the orphanage where he had grown up. Knowing who had placed the boy here, he smiled. It seemed the old adage was true, you really couldn't teach old dogs new tricks.

He returned his attention to the situation at hand as the woman begged for her families lives. He always found it more entertaining when people thought they might be allowed to live, if only they could please him. Begging, pleading, telling him all of their dirty little secrets, just for the hope, the prayer that he may let them live. That rarely happened of course, only if he had a use for them, and these muggles were as useless as they came. Not even good as bait, as by all accounts Potter hated them. The boy may be willing to run into danger to save his friends,but he would never risk himself to save these worthless sacks of flesh. No, their only worth now was as a momentary entertainment for him. He aimed his wand at the boy now.

"NO PLEASE!, not my Dudie-" the rest of her shout cut of as she flew across the room, slamming into the wall before coming to rest on the floor.

"What about you, boy? Do you know where your cousin is?"

The boy opened his mouth as if to respond, but the only thing that escaped was a low whine, as he seemed to be trying to will himself through the wall.

"No, nothing? Well you can't complain that I didn't give you the opportunity," he smiled before uttering one more word, "Crucio!" Voldemort held the boy under the curse for a full minute, reveling in his screams and in the thrashing of his arms and legs. When he stopped, the boy continued to twitch on the ground, a low gurgling coming from his throat. His mother, still lying on the opposite side of the room, sobbed as she tried to push herself over to her son.

Smiling he looked around the room. It had been too long. The year he had taken to gather his forces had been necessary, but it had also been tremendously boring. There truly was nothing like taking out your frustrations on a group of helpless muggles, he thought to himself. Deciding he had everything he was likely to get out of them, he turned to leave. It was time for the wizarding world to relearn the fear that had gripped it fifteen years ago. He pressed one of his long fingers to the tattoo on his forearm, sending his followers the message to start their attack. His new reign of terror would begin tonight. Stopping as he exited, he turned back, letting three quick jets of green light escape his wand.

OoOoO

Tonks tore her gaze away from the sky at the sounds of retching behind her. Harry was on all fours now, emptying the contents of his stomach. Wand in hand, Tonks surveyed the area around them before helping Harry to his feet. He seemed unsteady, like he was having a hard time making it to his feet. It was lucky she already had a hand on his arm because he attempted to start walking towards the house.

"No Harry," she said, pulling him back towards her, "I'm sorry, but it's too late. If the Mark is there they are either dead or it's a trap, or maybe both." Harry stopped trying to pull away, though his gaze was still fixed on the sky above Privet Drive. He mumbled something Tonks couldn't make out.

"Come on Harry," she urged trying to pull him the other direction, "we need to get out of here. There could be more of them. They might even be looking for us." That did the trick. With one last look at the sky over Privet Drive, Harry turned and began following her in the opposite direction. "Come on, I'll Apparate us out of here."

"No!" he exclaimed, his eyes focusing, he pulled his arm from her grasp before she could try to take them away, "he set up anti-apparition wards."

"How can you tell?" she asked, confused.

"I.. I had a vision... I saw the whole thing.."

Tonks gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. She couldn't imagine what he must have just gone through, watching his only relatives murder from the ground only a few streets away. "Harry I'm so sorry," she said looking at him. His eyes were slowly coming back into focus, but she could see a haunted look in them. She had seen it in other Aurors after coming into a particularly gruesome scene, had felt it herself. He suddenly shook himself, his attention fully returned to the outside world.

"We need to get out of here, he called his followers to start attacking right before I woke up."

Tonks looked at him horrified for a second before her Auror training kicked in. "We should get as far away as possible and then Apparate somewhere safe."

"Tonks, I don't know how to Apparate."

"That's alright Harry, I can take you side-along. We just need to get farther away, out from underneath their anti-apparition wards. I don't want to bounce off and give away our position. Now here, put this on and stay quiet," Tonks said pushing Moody's extra invisibility cloak into his hands.

He pushed it back towards her, "No Tonks, you put this-".

She interrupted him, "Don't be a bloody white knight, it's you they're after. Besides I'm the trained Aur-" she said cutting herself off as he pulled his own bundle of silvery material from under his shirt. She stared at him for a moment in disbelief. "You have your own invisibility cloak?"

"Yeah it was my dad's, its been in the family for ages," he replied. "Come on, we should get moving," he said as she started to say something else. Pulling her cloak over her head she heard Harry whisper, "How am I supposed to follow you if we're both invisible?" he asked.

"Take my hand," Tonks whispered, as he pulled his own cloak over his head. After a second she saw another hand appear out of nowhere grasping hers. She quickly covered both, overlapping their cloaks over their clasped hands. "Alright, try to be quiet, we don't know who could be out there," she whispered, setting off in the direction opposite the house.

It was slow going, trying not to make any noise, while also listening for anything out of the ordinary. They made it three streets before they heard the first explosions signifying the start of the Death Eater attack. They could see the flames start to brighten the night sky to their right. Turning onto a main boulevard they caught their first sight of the Death Eaters. There were half a dozen walking down each side of the boulevard, casting explosive and flaming curses at every house they passed. People were running out of their homes, either to escape the flames, or to see what was causing all the noise. Each of them was struck down without pause.

Harry felt sick to his stomach again, but luckily he'd already expelled his meager supper in the park. Following Tonks' lead, they quietly moved down the boulevard, between the two groups of Deaths Eaters. Harry longed to help them, but was stopped by the firm grasp Tonks held on his wand hand. When he tried to pull it away from her she hissed at him, "Don't be stupid, there are too many of them." Confining his gaze to the center of the street, Harry followed along behind Tonks, trying to get to the edge of wards. After passing by the Death Eaters Harry pulled Tonks down a street to their left, "Come on, this way. That street loops back closer to the Dursleys'."

The street they turned down was dark. There were few light posts here, and it didn't seem like the Death Eaters had come this way yet. They quickly made their way down the street, only pulling up short at the sound of voices. Two large shapes were outlined in the darkness not far away, whispering to each other. Staying silent they made to creep by.

"We would have seen them if they had been a Muggle," said the first.

"Not if they went into one of the houses," argued the second. "if Potter or one of those blood-traitors had been near, the Dark Lord would have killed them."

"Maybe he didn't see them," replied the first, "Gregory told me that Potter has some way to avoid being seen. Lucius' son thinks he must have an Invisibility Cloak."

Harry recognized the two now. It was Crabbe and Goyle Sr, and apparently at least one of them wasn't as dimwitted as their sons.

"Alright then, how do you expect to catch him?" asked Crabbe Sr.

"I'm thinking, there's some sort of spell to reveal hidden people..." replied Goyle Sr. "ah ha, got it, Homenum Revelio."

The spell caught Harry by surprise. Crabbe and Goyle Sr. definitely weren't as dimwitted as their sons. Harry barely recovered in time to dive out of the way as two purple sreaks of light shot through the space where he had been standing. He rolled out of his dive, his cloak slipping off as he did and pointing his wand at the closer of the two shouted "Stupefy!" The Death Eater in question shielded easily while his partner returned fire with another dark curse. Harry side stepped this one, not knowing if his shield would be able to defend against it and returned an impedimenta jinx. Another burst of light came from Harry's left towards the Death Eaters. The two spells hit one after the other, the second one breaking through the shield to smash into the large Death Eaters face. Goyle Sr. flew backwards screaming and holding both hands up to his face, leaving only the one Death Eater for them to deal with. Harry saw Tonks pull off her own invisibility cloak out of the corner of his eye, shooting off a volley of spells towards the remaining Death Eater. Harry joined in quickly, putting him on the defensive. Unable to hold against the two person assault, Crabbe threw himself to the side, pushing his finger into the tattoo on his left forearm, before being hit by a stunner from each of his assailants.

Harry threw a hand to his forehead as it exploded in pain. The pain faded after a couple of seconds for him to realize he was on his knees, Tonks hovering over him asking if he was alright. He reached down quickly grabbing his invisibility cloak in the hand holding his wand and grabbing Tonks' wrist in his other hand, he pulled her along at a sprint.

"Harry, what happened?" Tonks asked, pulling to free herself from his grasp.

"He's coming," he managed in between breaths, urging Tonks to run faster. She needed no more motivation and picked up her pace, pulling even with him. They raced down the street side by side as the pain in Harry's scar increased. He could see Tonks at his side, wand moving through the air, repeatedly muttering words under her breath, "Come on, come on."

Harry looked back just in time to see the first spell shoot past him. There about a hundred meters behind them Voldemort flew above the street. His bottom half seemed to be made of smoke and he was gaining on them fast. Harry yelled "Protego" blocking the second spell and dodged without breaking his sprint around the third. He managed to summon a street sign just in time to block a familiar green light from striking Tonks. Looking back again he saw that Voldemort had gained on them, now only fifty meters separating them. They only had seconds before he would be right on top of them. Harry saw him wave his wand, an brownish orange jet of light shooting towards him. He bent his legs to dive out of the way, when he felt a hand land on his shoulder and the sudden sensation of being sucked through a small tube.