Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

Chapter 3

Once everyone walked into the house, I realized just how many people had come. Along with Mad-Eye, the others that gathered into 4 Privet Drive included Hermione, Ron, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Tonks, Lupin, Kingsley, Hagrid, and Mundungus Fletcher. Seeing this many people in the Dursleys house had me seriously considering what this new plan of Mad-Eye's could be.

"I had no idea that you all were coming," I said looking around at the crowd.

"It was a last minute change of plans," Lupin explained.

"How have you been?" Tonks asked us. "I feel like it's been ages since we've seen each other."

"We've been…okay," Harry said with a fake smile on his face.

They should have known right off the bat that he was lying through his teeth. Neither of us had been anything close to okay since we left the castle, but there was no need in bringing all of that up again. On the other hand, I was pleased that Tonks was no longer in misery like she had been for a long time. In fact, she looked rather pleased with herself and I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"How have things been going with you?" I asked as everyone started to get settled in the sitting room.

"Well, we actually have something to tell you two," Tonks smiled as she looked over at Lupin.

"What is it?" Harry asked.

Without a word, but a large smile on her face, Tonks held up her hand and I noticed the wedding ring that was on her finger. Despite the shock of this, I couldn't have been happier for her – she finally got what she wanted. Well, more like who she wanted.

"Congratulations!" Harry and I both said.

"We really wanted the two of you to be there," Lupin explained. "But we didn't want to make it into a big event with everything that is going on."

"Don't worry about it," Harry shrugged.

"All right – enough with the catching up," Mad-Eye said irritably. "We don't have all of the time in the world."

The chatter that was going on immediately came to a stop as everyone gathered around to listen to what Mad-Eye's plan was. Though I suspected that Harry and I were the only ones that did not know what was going on, everyone remained quiet nonetheless and allowed Mad-Eye to explain everything to us.

"As the two of you are aware, we were originally planning to Apparate from this house to the location we selected," Mad-Eye said. "Unfortunately, we have run into a problem where a protection has been put up around this house to prevent you from leaving it magically without someone else being notified. In other words, we can't use the Floo Network, we can't Apparate, and we can't use a Portkey without You-Know-Who finding out about it."

"How would he find out about it?" Harry asked.

"Pius Thicknesse and other Ministry officials have gone over," Mad-Eye said. "And with the Trace still on both of you, no magic can be used without Thicknesse finding out about it and telling the Death Eaters."

"I'm sorry, but what is the Trace?" I asked.

"It's a charm that's on anyone witch or wizard that is underage," Mr. Weasley explained. "If any magic is used by them or around them, the Ministry will be informed – that's how they find out about underage magic."

"Now, the protective charm that your mother gave to you both will break under two conditions," Mad-Eye said. "The first way, which is most likely what the Death Eaters will be counting on, is the moment that you both turn seventeen. The second is when you no longer consider this place a home. Considering that your aunt and uncle have already left and you are all on the understanding that you will not be in contact any time soon, we are going to be using this method to break the charm earlier than intended."

"Once we leave this house, the charm will be broken?" Harry asked for reassurance.

"Correct," Mad-Eye said. "As soon as you come to the understanding that you will not return here again. Now, having this in mind, we've sent a false trail through the Ministry about when we will depart. Although they know that we will be attempting an escape with you, they were given false information about the time that you will be departing."

"So how are we planning to get out of here without using magic?" Harry asked. "Are we just going to have to use a Muggle way of travelling?"

That's where I imagined this was going, but I still wondered why Mad-Eye brought so many people if we were going to be traveling by something like a car. Perhaps it had something to do with us needing to be protected just in case something happens because of how long it would take to travel.

"No, we just can't use any enchantments," Mad-Eye explained. "But that doesn't mean that we don't have other means of travel – we can fly. We have broomsticks, we have thestrals, and we have that motorbike of Hagrid's."

"How are we going to travel like that?" I asked. "We can't just casually fly out of here – I'm sure that Death Eaters have been posted around the area to make sure we can't escape."

"Not to mention that they'll be sixteen of us travelling," Harry mentioned. "I have trouble believing that someone won't notice if we're all going to the same place."

"We won't be traveling to the same place," Mad-Eye said. "We have several safe-houses that we have set up for us to travel to and each of us will pair off and go to a separate house. Once we're there, we'll use Portkeys – now that you would both be out of the area of the enchantment – to go to our final destination."

Even hearing this, I knew that there was another problem that they were not addressing. Practically stealing the words out of my mouth, my brother spoke up to point out the flaw in the plan.

"If we run into trouble, they'll still be able to follow us," Harry said. "I'm sure it won't take them that long to figure out which way we're traveling as soon as they spot us."

"They'll have more difficulty than you think," Mad-Eye said. "Especially when they see that they'll be four of both of you."

Everyone went quiet and I suddenly understood where he was trying to go with this plan. They were going to try to take Polyjuice Potion to try to trick anyone that we might run in to. Completely baffled and horrified by the plan, I had to clarify what he was talking about.

"I'm sorry, but I think I heard you wrong," I said while crossing my arms. "There is no way that you are suggesting that six people turn into us."

"I told you there would be an argument," Ron muttered.

"Do you realize how dangerous this could be?" Harry asked. "Someone could die – hell, we could all die!"

"Everyone here is well aware of the potential danger," Mr. Weasley said. "But it's a risk we are all willing to take to get the two of you out of here."

"Oh my god," Fred said as his hair suddenly changed to another shade of red and grew longer. "I'm becoming a girl!"

"It would be you that got my potion," I said as I covered my face with my hand in embarrassment.

"I am growing boobs – I repeat, I am growing boobs!" Fred announced as his voice suddenly began to change into mine mid-sentence.

"Oh my god, can you not announce that?" I asked while I shook my head and fought the impulse to run into a corner and die.

"So this is what you're dealing with," Fred said as his transformation came close to being complete and then gave me a wink. "Not too bad, eh?"

"I will end your life if you make one more comment like that," I threatened him.

"Okay, all right – you know I'm joking," he said defensively and then switched to a sly grin. "Or am I?"

"Keep it up and I'll knock you out," George said as he began to transform into Harry.

"Would you two behave?" Mr. Weasley said. "And Fred – do not be inappropriate."

"I'm sorry," Fred said. "You know I don't mean it – I'm only joking with you."

"I know, just try not to look at yourself when you're changing," I told him. "I'd rather not have you know what I look like naked."

"It isn't like you don't know what I look like naked," Fred muttered. "I mean, you were with my twin…"

"What was that?" Harry asked.

"Nothing," Fred and I said at the same time.

Thankfully, Fred hadn't said it loud enough for anyone to properly except for me and Harry continued on awkwardly standing as he watched his duplicates find their new clothes. Watching ourselves go over to the corners of the room to find our proper clothing was a very strange experience. Once they all began to switch out of their clothes, I suddenly felt myself becoming incredibly self-conscious, as they all didn't really seem that concerned about carelessly removing their clothing in front of everyone.

"I feel so violated," I muttered.

"I know what you mean," Harry agreed as he looked over and saw his doppelgangers throwing their clothes carelessly off of their bodies.

"Mind giving us some respect?" I told them.

Despite my request, they continued to dress as if no one else was in the room. I guess that it didn't matter to them what body parts were shown off if it wasn't theirs to show. Then again, I couldn't imagine that they would be too modest considering it wasn't even their own bodies…I would just have to hope that Fred wouldn't pay too much attention to his own body…

Once everyone was dressed and completely morphed into us, they all began to bring themselves back to the crowd and talk amongst themselves.

"This is so strange," said one of Harry's duplicates, which I strongly suspected was George. "Harry, you're so short…and not ginger…"

"You think it's strange for you?" one of my duplicates said, undoubtedly Fred. "At least you don't have a vagi – "

"Okay, that's enough," Mad-Eye spoke up. "I need those who are escorting the Potters to find their respective companion – Mundungus, you're coming with me."

One of the duplicates of Harry started muttering to himself as he followed Mad-Eye toward the door while the others stepped up to call out who would be travelling with them. Although I wondered to myself why it really mattered who was paired together, I kept silent.

"Hermione, you're with me," Kingsley said as one of my duplicates walked up to him.

"I have Ron," Tonks said as he looked over at one of Harry's duplicates.

"Fleur, you're coming with me on one of the thestrals," Bill said.

"I have Fred," Charlie called over to the last of my duplicates.

"I guess that means you're the real Harry," Hagrid spoke to my brother that stood beside me. "You'll be coming with me on the bike."

Seeing that Mr. Weasley was the only person remaining, it didn't take much thought to figure out that I would be traveling with him. Honestly, I was happy with this decision because I was very comfortable with him – I trusted him very much and had no trouble believing that he would do anything to get me to our destination as safely as possible.

"Emily is going with me," Mr. Weasley smiled while looking at me. "We're going to be riding a thestral, if you don't mind. Mad-Eye reckons that people might be expecting you to be on a broomstick."

"It makes no difference to me," I shrugged.

"Is everyone with the person that they're riding with?" Mad-Eye called out to us all just as he opened up the door to walk into the back yard.

No one objected as we all walked over to find our designated transportation. As I stepped out, it occurred to me that we had thestrals in the backyard of the Dursleys house. This probably would have been stranger to me in normal circumstances, but I felt like it was hard to compete with the fact that there was three other people walking in the yard that looked just like me. It's a bit difficult to consider anything else weird when you see that.

Considering they were the only ones that had the capability to carry anything with them, Hagrid and the real Harry took my things with them. Not wanting to have too much in the sidecar of the motorbike at once, we decided that we would leave Hoot's cage behind and just let him fly off on his own. For the time being, I sent him off to Neville's house to keep him away from our trail.

"Over here," Mr. Weasley said to me as he directed me toward one of the thestrals.

The one in the middle was the one that Mr. Weasley said we would be taking. Although I was opposed to the idea of having to ride one of these for any extended period of time, I kept my mouth shut. There was no use in complaining any more about the situation – as long as we got out of here without any trouble, then it wouldn't matter either way.

After Mr. Weasley helped me onto the creature, he jumped up and sat in the spot in front of me so he would be able to direct the animal. I was thankful that I wasn't going to have to do anything because I wasn't too sure on how to ride these things. Despite our rides on them to the Ministry the night that Sirius died, I still wasn't that confident in riding them again.

"Everyone knows where they're going?" Mad-Eye called out to us all.

There wasn't any protest to the leader of our group and I took that to mean that everyone was sure where their first destination would be. Of course, I wasn't entirely sure of where I was going, but Mr. Weasley answered back saying that he was, so I was confident that we would make it there just fine.

"Okay, then let's get this over with," Mad-Eye called. "Good luck everyone – let's head out."

One by one, each of us flew up into the air. Just after Bill and Fleur/me went up into the air, I felt the thestral move underneath of me and I quickly held onto Mr. Weasley in front of me. Just seconds after it took off in a short run, its wings came out and it jumped into the air.

Although terrified of being on the creature, I did my best to not seem as though I was uncomfortable. It didn't take us too long to find ourselves high up in the sky and going away from Privet Drive for the last time. Before we got too far away from it, I allowed myself to look back at it one more time.

Just as the house that I lived in for seventeen years vanished from sight, I looked ahead into the area ahead of me. It was difficult to see ahead due to the lack of light and the increasing amount of fog that blocked the view, but I didn't need to see that far ahead to understand what we were running ourselves into. In front of us, I heard the screams of shock and red lights shooting through the fog that told me that someone out there expected us to be here.

"Death Eaters," Mr. Weasley said in a hushed tone as we entered the cloud that was ahead of us with the others.

As soon as we were in the clearing, my eyes widened when I saw that we were completed surrounded and under attack – it was as if every Death Eater had been waiting for us.

The feeling of fear suddenly shot through me as I thought of what could happen. Although it was considered before, it was terrifying to see that the danger we predicted would be so immediate.

Would any of us get out of here? Would Voldemort be there? What if someone got captured or even died?

These thoughts flew through my head as Mr. Weasley did his best to steer us out of the way of the Death Eaters path. Now that they saw all of us flying through the air, Voldemort's followers were shooting every curse they could think of toward all of us without any thought of what they were doing.

It occurred to me then that they must have panicked when they saw that they wouldn't be able to find out who the real Harry and Emily Potter were when they saw us all in the air. While it didn't seem like they had been unsure of when we would be passing through, this detail seemed to catch them off guard as they all flew around in a panicked attempt to find which of us was the real one.

"THERE'S ONE TO THE RIGHT!" I shouted as Mr. Weasley quickly turned out of its way after hearing me shout.

We just narrowly escaped the curse they shot at us as the thestral moved its wings faster and pushed us through the air as quickly as it could.

Another Death Eater began flying toward us to the left of us, but it seemed to be aiming itself toward the group that had Lupin and George/Harry. That's when I noticed that there were two flying directly at them.

"Oh my god," I heard Mr. Weasley say in front of me.

When I looked at him to see what he was talking about, I noticed that someone below us was falling through the air at an alarming rate. Although I only caught a glimpse, I could tell that it was not a Death Eater – it was one of our people. By the time we noticed him falling, it was too late to do anything. The person had already fell into the trees and had most likely hit the ground by now.

"Who was that?" I shouted.

"I think it was Mad-Eye," he shouted back to me in a strangled tone.

"Where is Mundungus?" I called.

"I don't see him anywhere!" Mr. Weasley said.

"We have to go see if he's okay!" I shouted.

"We can't!" Mr. Weasley said. "I have to get you there safely – it's the only thing we can do."

"But – " I started.

Before I could say another word, Mr. Weasley suddenly directed the thestral to make a sudden movement and I noticed that there was a Death Eater coming up from our left.

Just as the thestral flew to the right in a sudden jerk, a red light flashed around me and I felt a searing pain erupt in my right side. I let out a short scream of pain as my one arm flew to my side that now felt wet with the blood that was coming out. Hearing my cry of pain, Mr. Weasley did everything he could to make the thestral steer clear of any further damage to ourselves.

Trying to ignore the pain while I looked around at the people that were attacking us, I tried to brace for another hit when I saw one of the Death Eaters pointing their wands directly at me. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, I saw a flash of red hit directly into their chest and they began to fall through the air and out of our path.

When I tried to figure out who it was that managed to save us, I was confused to see that no one from our side was where the spell originated. In fact, the only person in sight seemed to be another Death Eater that appeared to have changed their direction so they were going away from us.

"We're almost there," Mr. Weasley called back to me.

Just as I began to mumble some sort of response to him, I felt myself become incredibly faint as more blood came from out of the wound I had on my side. Although I wasn't entirely sure of what I said next, I knew that I mumbled some incoherent thing before I felt myself slip off of the thestral and fall into blackness.

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