Welcome Back!
(This contains scenes from HP 7. Most dialogue is not verbatim. As always I own nothing besides the ideas of my own creation, the rest belongs to you know who.)
Remus took a deep breath of cool night air as he emerged from the small house out into the street in front of number 4 Privet Drive.
This was it. The moment they had all been waiting for was finally there. Remus looked over at his wife, standing next to her Potter body double. Ron was standing next to her and shifted back and forth nervously. It set Remus's teeth on edge.
He scanned the street over and over and noticed every little detail of every house and every grass clipping out of place. He saw Ron smirk at the true Harry sitting in the sidecar to Sirius' old motorbike. Remus attempted to stifle a smirk at the look of pure loathing that Harry shot the rest of them on broomsticks.
Having him in the sidecar had actually been Ashlee's idea. Although he was sure Mad Eye would never admit that.
Remus had to admit, that was one of her more brilliant ideas though.
Mad Eyes face had lit up like it was Boxing Day, when she'd mentioned it. Mad Eye had instantly agreed and insisted upon it.
Remus thought it had been a good idea as well. Any Death Eater would expect Harry to be on a broom.
Remus's eyes darted back to Tonks, and Ron shot him a guilty look as he put his hands around her waist. This made Remus even more nervous. He wasn't sure if he trusted an under qualified wizard who hadn't completed school yet with his wife's life. But, they had already agreed to this. Remus grasped his broom stick harder, as his sweaty palm slipped down the handle.
It was all going how they had planned so far. There was nothing to panic over yet , Remus tried to convince himself they would all be okay, before a voice next to him startled him.
He turned to look at the young man next to him, he had clearly said something but he'd missed it.
"You ready?" The voice of George Weasley reiterated again, giving him an expectant look.
Remus nodded, waiting for Mad Eyes signal.
"All right." Mad Eye said once everyone was in position and looking up at him.
"We all know what our orders are. We'll meet at the Burrow!" Mad eye called to the group before him.
And, after a few seconds they were off, flying up into the darkness of the night sky. Remus felt the broom lurch slightly off to the side as it adjusted to having two people on it.
They flew upwards into the clouds. All seemed calm, until it didn't.
Suddenly, there were flashes of light and shouts as countless Death Eaters swooped by the group, shooting spells and hexes everywhere. There could have been hundreds of them. All Remus knew was that there were far too many to count.
Remus had no time to look around to ensure anyone else's safety, he and George flew forward at breakneck speeds through the throng of foes and friends alike.
It was nearly impossible to navigate and Remus felt George smack into his back hard, almost throwing him off the broom.
"Exploso" he heard George yell from behind him.
Remus quickly attempted to place a few carefully aimed spells that hit hooded figures in the distance.
"Yeah!" He heard George call.
Remus shoved his wand back deep inside his jacket pocket and kept attempting to fly as fast as he could towards their destination as George shot spell after spell behind them.
"They're chasing us!" He heard George yell.
Remus dove downwards quickly trying to evade their pursuers, below them he could just make out the lights of Surrey below in the distance.
What happened next took Remus off guard, and he knew instantly something was wrong. Remus saw the reflection of a brightly colored spell shoot right by him, and felt George suddenly start to slip much too far to the right.
Remus gasped, realizing George who had been just fine a few seconds before was now full on falling from the broom.
Remus attempted his best to spin around, trying to hold on to George, grabbing at his coat.
"George." Remus yelled trying to wake him up. George was unconscious and barely on the broom now.
Remus gritted his teeth in anger as he turned and saw the silhouette of a greasy haired man flying behind him, he went to grab for his wand to retaliate but realized that George was bleeding horribly and they both almost fell off the broom as a result.
Remus dove again, reaching back to hold onto George. He sped away fast, as attacking back obviously wasn't going to work.
When Remus looked back next, the two Death Eaters following them had disappeared somewhere into the abyss of the night sky.
He sighed in relief as he hurdled towards the ground, his extremities frozen from the high altitude.
As he approached the Earth, he hoped beyond hope that he had estimated the right landing zone.
Remus sighed as they landed, and he saw Mad Eye's house sitting a few meters away in the distance, their portkey was close they just had to make it there.
"C'mon, George"
Remus, heaved him off the ground. George was completely unconscious, and he had to carry his deadweight halfway across the yard to Mad Eye's back porch.
"George." Remus gritted his teeth, before pressing his lips into a hard line. "C'mon, we have to go." He said to the still unconscious George. Remus sighed knowing his pleas useless.
Remus paused when he realized that the portkey was waiting for them on the back porch. Just where it was supposed to be. At least one thing had gone, right.
Remus dragged George up onto the porch next to the Porky and checked his watch. It would be leaving at about three minutes.
Remus ripped the corner of Georges coat off and attempted to staunch the bleeding, but this seemed to jolt him awake. He tried not to, but he seethed with anger. He attempted to mask this feeling. The time to figure out what's had gone wrong would happen later. He needed to focus on George and getting him to the Burrow.
George gasped. Looking around in an unfocused way.
"You're OK you got hurt, though. I'm trying to stop you from bleeding." Reus explain to him.
"Is is this Mad Eye's house? This is actually exactly what I assumed Mad Eye's house would look like." George rasped, looking around at the shabby back deck and yard.
"OK, I know it's not really the time for jokes." George, mused groggily.
"But you're really freaking me out dude. You're so angry. You good? Is it me?" George asked.
"It's not my gnarly bleeding head wound, is it?" George continued.
Remus took a steadying breath. Stuck somewhere between rage and laughter.
"No George, it's not you. Your gnarly head wound doesn't offend me."
"We were betrayed." Remus continued.
"Yeah, I kinda figured that when there was like a 100 death eaters waiting for us."
Remus nodded, putting pressure where George's ear should've been.
George winched.
"I'm sorry, but you're bleeding too much. And, nothing I've tried is working."
"Ah, it's okay." George gasped. "How bad is it?"
"It's not-it's not good. I think part of your ear might have been blown off." Remus told him, grimacing slightly.
"Sick." George croaked. "Gnarly" he nodded slightly.
"Here. Hold this up." Remus instructed.
George nodded. Holding the cloth up.
Remus grabbed the portkey and pulled it towards them. It was going to leave any second.
"Oh, I feel sick." George croaked.
George passed out suddenly, his hand slipping off his head. Blood spurted out.
Remus quickly returned the compress to his head, staunching the blood.
Remus gasped as the old boot lit up. he grabbed George and the boot and the world turned and spun in a whirlwind of technicolor.
Suddenly, Remus' feet were crashing hard back into the Earth, still supporting the injured George under his arm.
The first thing he saw when he looked up was Harry, running towards him and George. Harry's face was stark and white.
Harry didn't say anything but helped Remus get George into the house. They dropped George on the sofa and by the light of the lanterns in the living room you could see a gaping hole in the side of George's head, his entire ear was missing.
In that moment, Remus broke a little bit. The betrayal was so much more real now, and the bright light of the Weasleys sitting room. All of the adrenaline from the chase and the fight is starting to wear off now, and sense was coming back into him. on the spot, he spun, grabbing Harry and pulling him into the kitchen.
"What creature sat in my office the first time you visited me, at Hogwarts?"
Remus had tunnel vision he couldn't hear a thing, though he could feel Hagrid's presence in the room behind him though.
"Answer me now."He pleaded. Slightly terrified of the answer if he didn't know, that would be bad.
"It was a grindlow" harry gasped.
Remus gasped in relief and released Herry sinking back against the cabinets in the kitchen. They felt cold against his hot skin.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I had to make sure you weren't an imposter. We were betrayed tonight." He hoped he understood.
Hagrid clearly had followed them into the kitchen, and it was at that moment that Remus realized he had been speaking. More like shouting at him.
"Le go of Harry?" he questioned Remus.
"Very few people knew about our plan tonight." He looked at the both as he spoke.
"Only the people directly involved knew about it. Something went wrong. The death eater shouldn't have found out." He explained to both of them.
Remus sighed, as their confused and terror stricken faces looked back at him. This was going to be a long night.
~
Miles away at Muriel's house. Tonks and Ron were scrambling.
"Wotcher? Are you OK?" Tonks asked him as they made their way into the back of the house.
" yeah yeah I think so." Ron gasped.
Tonks grimaced a little bit but nodded. They both had gotten very lucky.
Ron was starting to turn back into his old self.
Tonks patted Ron on the back. "You were great out there. Thank you for your help. You did good." She assured him.
Ron shifted a little uncomfortably, but gave her a small smile in return. Nodding as Muriel ushered them into her overly warm sitting room.
"Here, here. Sit down, the two of you look terrible!" Muriel fussed.
"Well, we we can't really stay, Aunty." Ron chuckled a little in a nervous manner. Rubbing his hand on his neck, he tried to plead with his aunt.
Tonks nodded, agreeing with Ron silently. The others were certainly waiting for them.
"Nonsense." Muriel said in a light hearted voice. She waved him down. " you too look like you could do with some tea. I'll be right back with it." They watched as she marched off to the kitchen to fetch tea.
Ron turned and looked at Tonks in horror. "What are we gonna do now? She's never gonna let us leave?"
Tonks put her hand up. " don't worry we're not staying." She assured him. She didn't care if she even had to be rude to Muriel. She wasn't staying there any longer than she needed to. They needed to get back to the others. They were probably worried about them.
When she came back into the room, she had a a tray laden with tea.
Tonks decided she needed to step in.
"Oh, this looks lovely Muriel, thank you so much. But, I think Ron and I might have to be going now. We need to get back to the others." She explained.
"You don't have an extra broom we can borrow do you? Ron would be sure to give it back to you soon" Tonks added.
"Hmm. Yes. I'll fetch it." Muriel said stiffly, and marched away, retreating from the battle.
Tonks sighed.
"Ha, thanks. She would've kept us here forever." Ron admitted, rubbing his neck in a nervous way again.
Perhaps he was nervous to get back too.
"Well, we have to stick to the plan, the others are waiting for us."
Ron nodded, and coughed a little, clearing his throat.
He looked at her in an odd way before speaking.
"Ah, um - just wondering, out loud. You know you, if you could just mention how helpful I was tonight - you know, again. That's would be super cool. Once we're back with the others." He asked, going scarlet in the face.
Tonks tried to not laugh at this but couldn't stifle her smirk. "Um, sure. I could do that. W-who exactly are you aiming to impress - If I can ask?" She pressed him.
Ron went even more scarlet, and opened his mouth to answer but he was interrupted by his great aunt coming back into the room.
"Here." She said, handing the brooms over as if they were a white flag, signaling her surrender.
Both of them thanked her profusely before quickly making their way out to the backyard.
"Going back should be easier with two brooms. And, don't worry, you probably saved my life tonight, I'm going to be thanking you for a long time." Tonks told them before leaving.
"Oh, that's a little extreme." He shifted as he mounted his broom.
"No, it's not. Bellatrix tried to kill me tonight. Without your help she probably would have."
Ron turned slightly pink in the face again but excepted the compliment quietly.
Then together, they sped off into the night sky towards the burrow.