The Advance Guard

I've just gotten attacked by a couple of Dementors and I might end up being expelled from Hogwarts. Tell me what's going on and when I'll be out of here.

Arthur wrote these words on four different pieces of parchment upon reaching the desk in his dark bedroom.

The first is addressed to Sirius, the second to David, the third to Chrys and the fourth to Mike. His owl, Athena, was out hunting, her cage standing empty on the desk.

Arthur sat on his bed, his head pounding as his brain was just too busy for sleep despite his eyes stinging and itching from tiredness. He eventually laid on his bed to ease his aching back from carrying Deacon home.

He just lay there, being consumed with anger and frustration, grinding his teeth and clenching his fists, snarling every once in a while.

Dementors were sent after him, Mrs Figg and Mundungus were sent to tail him in secret and now the fact that he's suspended from Hogwarts and has to go to a hearing at the Ministry of Magic and no one still hadn't told him about what's going on.

To be trapped here at Privet Drive without any information was eating away at him. He can't function properly without it. And he can't stand everyone excluding the Dentleys treating him like a naughty kid, ordering him to stay at the house and not do any more magic.

He got so angry that he sat up and punched the wall hard, hurting his fist.

As he was rubbing his knuckles, Athena soared through the window with a soft rustle of wings.

"About time." Arthur said, speaking to her gently, being the only one other than the Dentleys that Arthur didn't resent. "Please put that down, I need you to do something."

She dropped the dead frog into her cage before facing Arthur with a curious look in her eyes.

Arthur picked up the four parchments and a leather thong, tying the scrolls of parchment to her scaly leg.

"I need you to take these to Sirius, David, Chrys and Mike. Don't come back without good long replies, okay? Just keep pecking them until they've written decent length answers if you have to. Understand?"

She hooted, clearly understanding him before she took the frog back in her beak.

"Get going." He nodded to the window and she took off immediately.

Upon being gone, Arthur threw himself back to bed again and stared at the dark ceiling.

They had to write back quickly; there's no way they could ignore an attack from a couple of Dementors. He'd probably wake up tomorrow getting letters of sympathy and plans for his immediate removal from Privet Drive. But he knew that that was a slim chance, considering how they've pretty much left him in the dark.

With these thoughts, he was able to fall asleep.

Athena didn't return the next morning, which wasn't surprising. Arthur now spent the whole day in his bedroom, only leaving to use the bathroom. And he'd eat all his meals in his bedroom, not really wanting to do anything at all, though he did advise his aunt and uncle to give Deacon chocolate to deal with the effects the Dementors left on him.

This routine for Arthur went on for three whole days, each following day making him more and more angry that he's been left to stew in this mess.

He was also dreading the hearing at the Ministry of Magic. There's a chance they'll do what they can to ensure that Arthur doesn't get a fair chance and will try and get him expelled and maybe even thrown into Azkaban.

And he grew worried about what would happen if he did become expelled and his wand snapped in half. Would he have to stay with the Dentleys for the rest of his life? That would just be the worst, because he belonged in the wizarding world.

On the fourth night after Athena's departure, Arthur sat on the ground against his bed when Uncle Nicholas entered. He was dressed in a suit.

"Arthur, me, your aunt and Deacon are going out."

"Why?"

"It seems there's some event that we've been invited to." Uncle Nicholas said. "Will you be alright on your own?"

"Yeah." Arthur replied, leaning his head against the mattress.

"There's some leftover pasta if you want some."

"Okay."

"Well… see you later." Uncle Nicholas said before he closed the door and walked downstairs. A few minutes later, he heard the car doors outside open and close before the rumble of the engine and the sweep of the car moving out of the drive.

Arthur didn't really feel in the mood to go and have some leftover pasta, not even having the energy to turn on his bedroom light.

The room grew darker around him as he listened to all of the sounds in the night through his open window, still waiting for Athena to return.

The now empty house was creaking all around him. Arthur still sat there, thinking of nothing and full of bitterness.

But then he jumped when he heard a crash in the kitchen below him.

He instantly looked at the bedroom door and quietly crawled over to lock it as he listened closely.

The Dentleys weren't back yet, Arthur would've heard their car outside.

There was a few seconds of silence until he heard voices.

His first instinct was burglars.

Arthur went and grabbed his wand from the bedside table and pointed it at the bedroom door.

A few seconds passed until the lock gave a loud click and then the door swung open.

Arthur was on the ground motionless, staring through the open doorway at the dark upstairs landing, straining his ears to try and hear other sounds, yet none came.

He quietly got to his feet and moved silently out of his room to the head of the stairs and figure out what's going on.

His heart shot up to his throat when he saw people standing in the shadowy hall below, silhouetted against the streetlight glowing through the glass door. There were eight or nine of them and they all looked up at him.

"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out." A low, growling voice said.

Arthur recognised that voice, but he didn't lower the wand.

"For all I knew, you could've been burglars, Moody." Arthur retorted, staying where he was.

For all he knew, this could be another case of someone else pretending to be Moody, like what happened through his fourth year at Hogwarts.

"It's alright, Arthur. We've come to take you away." A second, slightly hoarse voice said, one that Arthur recognised and made his heart leap, having not heard it for over a year.

"Lupin? Is that you?"

"Why are we all standing in the dark?" A third voice said. Arthur didn't know it and it sounded feminine. "Lumos."

A wand tip flared, illuminating the hall with a magical light. Arthur blinked by the sudden light and saw the people below, crowded around the foot of the stairs, all gazing up at him intently, some even craning their heads for a better look.

Remus Lupin stood nearest to him. Despite being young, he looked tired and rather ill, now having more grey hairs compared to when Arthur last saw him when they said goodbye. His robes were also more patched and shabbier than ever. But regardless, he smiled broadly at Arthur, who smiled back, despite feeling shocked.

"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would." The witch that held her lit wand aloft said. She was definitely the youngest of the group. She had a pale heart shaped face with dark twinkling eyes and short spiky hair in a violent shade of violet. "Wotcher, Arthur?"

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus…" A bald black wizard said, who stood further back. He had a deep, slow voice, wearing a single gold hoop in his ear and wore rather exotic looking purple robes and a cap on his head. "...he looks exactly like John."

"Except the eyes." A wheezy voiced, silver haired wizard said at the back. "Rose's eyes."

Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody, whose grizzled grey hair and lacking a large chunk of his nose, squinted suspiciously at Arthur through his mismatched eyes. One was small, dark and beady, the other being large, round an electric blue, a magical eye that can see through walls, doors, the back of Moody's head and even Arthur's Invisibility Cloak.

"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" He growled. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Pendergast would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"

"Arthur, what form does your Patronus take?" Lupin asked.

"A lion." Arthur replied instantly.

"That's him, Mad Eye." Lupin said.

Being conscious of everyone staring at him, Arthur descended down the stairs, his wand still held tightly in his hand.

Lupin held out his hand and shook Arthur's.

"How are you?" He asked, looking at him closely.

"Bitter, angry and scared." Arthur said, being honest, he'd be lying if he said he was fine.

So after four weeks of not even the smallest hint of a plan to take Arthur away from Privet Drive, and now a whole group of wizards stood matter of factly in the house like this was a long standing arrangement.

Arthur looked at the people surrounding Lupin, all gazing avidly at him.

"How'd you even get here knowing the Dentleys were out?" He asked.

"It was me who lured them out of the way." The violet haired woman said. "Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been shortlisted for the All England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize giving right now… or they think they are."

"That's a bit cruel." Arthur muttered so that no one could hear him.

"So are we leaving soon?" He then asked.

"Almost at once." Lupin said. "We're just waiting for the all clear."

"And where exactly are we going?" Arthur asked suspiciously.

"Our Headquarters, somewhere undetectable. It's taken a while…." Lupin said, motioning Arthur to the kitchen, the group of wizards following them, still eyeing Arthur curiously.

Moody now sat at the dining table, swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in the various appliances.

"This is Alastor Moody, Arthur." Lupin said, pointing at Moody.

"Yes, I already know who he is." Arthur said, feeling a bit at odds, now being with the actual person.

"And this is Nymphadora -"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus…" The young witch said with a shudder, like she hated the name. "...it's Tonks."

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only." Lupin finished.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora." Tonks muttered.

"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt." Lupin pointed over to the black wizard, who bowed. "Elphias Doge." The wheezy voiced wizard nodded. "Dedalus Diggle -"

"We've met before." The excitable Diggle squeaked, dropping his violet coloured top hat.

"Emmeline Vance." A stately looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head. "Sturgis Podmore." A square jawed wizard with thick straw coloured hair winked. "And Hestia Jones." A pink cheeked, black haired witch waved from next to the toaster.

Arthur would incline his head at each of them as they'd be introduced. He just wished they'd look at anything else other than him.

"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you." Lupin said, like he read Arthur's mind, the corners of his mouth twitching slightly.

"Yeah, well, the more the better." Moody said darkly. "We're your guard, Pendergast."

"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off." Lupin said as he glanced out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."

"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?" Tonks said, looking around the kitchen with great interest. "My dad's Muggle-Born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"

"I guess so." Arthur muttered. He knew that he had to wait until they were somewhere safe and protected to talk about what's been going on, knowing how paranoid Moody can be.

"Damn it." Moody suddenly said angrily, putting a hand up to where his magical eye was. "It keeps getting stuck, ever since that scum wore it."

Then there was a nasty squelching sound, like a plunger being pulled from a sink, meaning he pulled the eye out.

"Mad Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" Tonks said.

"Get me a glass of what, would you, Arthur." Moody requested, ignoring Tonks.

Arthur went to the dishwasher, pulled out a clean glass and filled it with water from the sink, being watched eagerly by the wizards, their staring annoying him to no end.

"Can you lot stop staring at me? I am getting sick and tired of it." He snarled as he handed Moody the glass.

"Cheers." Moody said and dropped the magical eyeball into the water, prodding it up and down. The eye whizzed around, staring at all of them. "I want three hundred and sixty degrees of visibility on the return journey."

"And how exactly are we getting to Headquarters?" Arthur asked.

"Brooms." Lupin said. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorised Portkey."

"Remus says you're a good flyer." Kingsley said in his deep voice.

"He's excellent." Lupin said, checking his watch. "Anyway, you'd better go and get packed, Arthur, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."

"I'll come and help you." Tonks said brightly.

She followed Arthur all the way up to his bedroom, looking around with curiosity and interest.

"Funny place." She said. "It's a bit too clean, d'you know what I mean? Bit unnatural. Oh, this is better." She added when they entered his bedroom and he turned the light on.

His room was much messier than the rest of the house, and more messier than he normally has it. Being self confined for four days being angry, Arthur didn't bother cleaning up. A lot of the books he owned were in a messy pile, Athena's cage needed cleaning out and smelled. And there was his trunk, where it lay open and revealed a jumbled mix of Muggle clothes and his school uniform which spilled out on the floor around it.

Arthur grabbed his books and chucked them hastily into his trunk. He saw that Tonks paused at his open window to look critically at her reflection in the mirror on the inside of the door.

"You know, I don't think violet's really my colour." She said pensively, tugging a lock of spiky hair. "D'you think it makes me look a bit peaky?"

"Uh…." Arthur said as he looked over at her from his book on his favourite Quidditch team.

"Yeah, it does." She said decisively. She then screwed up her eyes in a strained expression like she was trying to remember something when her hair now turned bubble gum pink.

"Whoa!" Arthur gasped, wide eyed. "How'd you do that?"

"I'm a Metamorphmagus." She said, looking back at her reflection, turning her head to see her hair from all directions. "It means I can change my appearance at will." She added, spotting the curious look on Arthur's face in the mirror behind her. "I was born one. I got top marks in Concealment and Disguise during Auror training without any study at all, it was great."

"So you're an Auror?" He asked, very impressed. Being a dark wizard catcher was the only career that Arthur ever considered, having been told stories from David's father, who's also an Auror.

"Yeah." Tonks said proudly. "Kingsley is as well, he's a bit higher up than me, though. I only qualified a year ago. Nearly failed on Stealth and Tracking. I'm dead clumsy, did you hear me break that plate when we arrived downstairs?"

"Is being a Metamorphmagus something you have to be born as?" Arthur asked, not hiding his jealousy.

This made Tonks look at her sympathetically.

"Bet you wouldn't mind hiding that scar sometimes, eh?"

Arthur nodded, looking away and getting back to packing up his trunk.

"Metamorphmagi are really rare, they're born, not made. Most wizards need to use a wand, or potions to change their appearance. But we've got to get going, Arthur." She said guiltily.

"And the closest I get to that is being an Animagus." Arthur said.

"Is that so?" Tonks said, clearly impressed, Arthur nodding.

"It'll be much quicker if I pack!" She then cried, waving her wand in a long, sweeping movement over the floor.

Books, clothes, telescope and scales all soared through the air and flew into the trunk.

"It's not very neat." Tonks said, walking to the trunk and looked down at the jumble inside. "My mum's got this knack of getting stuff to fit itself in neatly, she even gets the socks to fold themselves, but I've never mastered how she does it. It's kind of fleck -" She then flicked her wand hopefully.

One of Arthur's socks gave a feeble wiggle before flopping back on top of the mess in the trunk.

"Ah, well." Tonks said, slamming the trunk's lid shut. "At least it's all in. That could do with a bit of cleaning, too." She pointed her wand at Athena's cage. "Scourgify." A few feathers and droppings all vanished. "Well, that's a bit better. I've never quite got the hang of these householdy sort of spells. Right, got everything? Cauldron? Broom? Wow! A Firebolt?"

Her eyes widened upon seeing Arthur's broomstick in his right hand. He considered it his pride and joy, being a gift from Sirius and an international standard broomstick.

"And I'm still riding a Comet Two Sixty." Tonks said, sounding envious. "Ah well, let's go. Locomotor trunk."

Arthur's trunk rose a few inches in the air. Holding her wand like it was a conductor's baton, Tonks made the trunk hover across the room and out of the door ahead of them, Athena's cage in her left hand. Arthur followed after her down the stairs, carrying his broomstick.

Back in the kitchen, Moody had replaced his eye, which now spun really fast after its cleaning and it made Arthur feel a bit sick to look at it.

Both Kingsley and Sturgis examined the microwave while Hestia laughed at a potato peeler she came across while rummaging in the drawers. Lupin was sealing a letter addressed to the Dentleys.

"Excellent." He said upon seeing Arthur and Tonks. "We've got about a minute, I think. We should probably get out into the garden so we're ready. Arthur, I've left a letter telling your aunt and uncle not to worry, that you're safe and you'll see them next summer."

"Come here, boy." Moody said gruffly, beckoning Arthur towards him with his wand. "I need to Disillusion you."

"What?" Arthur questioned.

"Disillusionment Charm." Moody said, raising his wand. "Lupin says you've got an Invisibility Cloak, but it won't stay on while we're flying, this'll disguise you better. Here you go -"

He rapped Arthur hard on top of his head and Arthur felt like an egg was cracked on top of his head with cold trickles running down his body from where the wand had struck.

"Nice one, Mad Eye." Tonks said appreciatively, staring at Arthur's midriff.

Arthur looked down and saw that while his body wasn't invisible, it took the exact colour and texture of the kitchen unit behind him. He now became a human chameleon.

"Come on." Moody said, unlocking the sliding glass door with his wand.

Everyone stepped outside onto the beautifully kept lawn, thanks to Aunt Patty.

"Clear night." Moody grunted, his magical eye scanning the heavens. "Could've done with a bit more cloud cover. Right you…" He barked at Arthur. "...we're going to be flying in close formation. Tonks'll be right in front of you, keep close on her tail. Lupin'll be covering you from below. I'm going to be behind you. They rest'll be circling us. We don't break ranks for anything, got me? If one of us is killed, the others keep flying, don't stop, don't break ranks. If they take out all of us and you survive, Arthur, the rear guard are standing by to take over; keep flying east and they'll join you."

"Stop being so cheerful, Mad Eye, he'll think we're not taking this seriously." Tonks said as she strapped Arthur's trunk and Athena's cage into a harness hanging from her broom.

"I'm just telling the boy the plan." Moody growled. "Our job's to deliver him safely to Headquarters and if we die in the attempt -"

"No one's going to die." Kingsley said with his deep, calming voice, which immediately assured Arthur. He felt like he could trust him with ease.

"Mount your brooms, that's the first signal!" Lupin said sharply, pointing into the sky.

Far above them, there was a shower of bright red sparks flaring among the stars. Arthur recognised them as wand sparks. He swung his right leg over his Firebolt, gripping the handle tightly and felt it vibrate slightly, like it was keen as him to be in the air once more.

"Second signal, let's go!" Lupin said loudly as green sparks exploded high above them.

Arthur kicked hard off the ground and the cool night air rushed through his hair as the neat square garden of Privet Drive fell away, rapidly shrinking into a pathwork of dark greens and blacks.

Every thought of the Ministry hearing was now brushed out of his mind, just like the wind over his face. Arthur's heart felt like it would explode with pleasure as he was now flying again.

For a few moments, his problems receded to nothing, being insignificant in the vast, starry sky.

"Hard left, hard left, there's a Muggle looking up!" Moody shouted from behind him. Tonks swerved and Arthur followed her, watching his trunk swing wildly underneath her broom. "We need more height… give it another quarter of a mile!"

Arthur's eyes now watered in the chill as they all soared upwards. He now saw nothing below other than tiny pinpricks of light that were either car lights or street lamps.

All Arthur could hear was the flapping of robes from all the others on their brooms, as well as the creaking of the harness that held his trunk and Athena's cage. There's also the whoosh of the wind in their ears as they sped through the air.

Arthur has never felt this alive or happy for a month.

"Bearing south!" Moody shouted. "Town ahead!"

They all soared right to avoid passing directly over the glittering mass of lights below.

"Bear southeast and keep climbing, there's some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!" Moody called.

"We're not going through clouds!" Tonks shouted angrily. "We'll get soaked, Mad Eye!"

Arthur sided with her as his hands were growing numb on the Firebolt's handle. He felt stupid for not putting on a coat as he was now shivering.

The group all altered course every now and then as Moody instructed. Arthur's eyes were screwed up against the icy wind that now made his ears ache. The last time he felt this cold was when he was in that Quidditch match against Hufflepuff in third year, which took place in a storm.

The guard around him circled continuously like large birds of prey.

Arthur was now losing track of time, wondering how long they've been flying, thinking that it had to have been an hour at least.

"Turning southwest!" Moody yelled. "We want to avoid the motorway!"

Arthur was now so chilled that he longed to be in a snug and dry interior of a car or even travelling by Floo powder, even with it being his least favourite way to travel.

Kingsley swooped around him, his earring gleaming slightly in the moonlight… now Emmeline was on his right, her wand out, her head turning left and right before swooping over him and was replaced by Sturgis.

"We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we're not being followed!" Moody shouted, much to Arthur's disdain.

"ARE YOU MAD, MAD EYE?" Tonks screamed from the front. "We're all frozen to our brooms! If we keep going off course we're not going to get there until next week! Besides, we're nearly there now!"

"Time to start the descent!" Lupin's voice called out. "Follow Tonks, Arthur!"

Arthur followed after her into a dive. They were heading for the largest collection of lights that Arthur had seen yet, a huge, sprawling crisscrossing mass, glittering in lines and grids, interspersed with patches of the deepest black.

They all flew lower and lower until Arthur could see individual headlights and street lamps, chimneys and television aerials. He now wanted to touch solid ground.

"Here we go!" Tonks called, landing a few seconds later.

Arthur now touched down right behind her and dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the middle of a small square. Tonks already unbuckled Arthur's trunk.

As he was shivering, Arthur looked around and saw the grimy fronts of the surrounding Georgian square houses, which were nor welcoming, some even having broken windows, glimmering dully in the light from the street lamps, as well as paint peeling from many of the doors and heaps of rubbish lay outside several sets of front steps.

"Where the hell are we?" Arthur asked.

"In a minute." Lupin said quietly.

Moody was rummaging in his cloak, his gnarled hands now clumsy thanks to the cold.

"Got it." He muttered and raised what Arthur thought looked like a silver cigarette lighter into the air and clicked it.

The nearest street lamp went out with an audible pop. He then clicked the object again and the next lamp went out. This kept happening until every lamp in the square was extinguished and the only light that remained was from curtained windows and the sickle moon overhead.

"Borrowed it from Dumbledore." Moody growled, pocketing the Put-Outer. "That'll take care of any Muggles looking out of the window, see? Now come on, quick."

He took Arthur by his arm, leading him from the patch of grass, across the road and onto the pavement; Lupin, Tonks followed them, carrying Arthur's trunk between them; the rest of the guard, with their wands out, flanked them.

The muffled pounding of a stereo came from an upper window from the nearest house. There was also a pungent smell of rotting rubbish from the pile of bulging bin bags just inside the broken gate.

"Here." Moody muttered, thrusting a piece of parchment to Arthur's Disillusioned hand, holding his lit wand close to it, to illuminate the writing. "Read quickly and memorise."

Arthur looked down at the piece of paper and saw Dumbledore's narrow handwriting, saying:

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

The next chapter will have a deviation from the book, if you've read it and seen the film, you'll know exactly what it is, it happens to be one of my biggest issues with the books.