Alastor Moody was truly living up to his name.
What was once a haunted but somewhat peaceful home turned into a madhouse the second all the Weasley children arrived at Grimmauld's place.
Hemione wasn't that bad.
Probably because she wasn't a Weasley.
When they had first barged through the door, the portrait of Sirius Black's mother started shrieking. Sirius himself, in dog form, was startled awake from his spot underneath a small table with an antique vase on top. Fed, George, and Ronald Weasley were all quick to cast a spell to prevent the vase from falling, only for their spells to rebound off the cursed House of Black heirloom in every possible direction.
To put it simply, the entire house looked as though it had been ransacked, and the culprits had decided to deal with the mess in the morning.
Moody, who had to stay up to receive Tonks' report, was not having it.
He stepped through a broken chair to pour himself a glass of fire whisky.
It was hours later that he heard it from his spot by the fireplace—a defining crack.
A part of Moody's brain told him it was just the sound of the table finally collapsing after the chaos that had ensued earlier that day.
The other, more militant side told him that it was the sound of someone apparating.
Tonks said she would arrive by floo.
As an auror, she wouldn't just switch it up without informing him. At least he hoped she wouldn't. Because whoever had just arrived unannounced was about to get a "stupefy" to the face.
He drew his wand and stood. Positioning himself by the door to the hallway, he got ready for a fight.
There were voices outside. Footsteps. Then the door handle wiggled.
Moody held his breath. Magical eye locking on to the door.
It opened.
Through the wall, Moody could make out the silhouette of the intruder, who was only about 150 cm tall. Something was clearly wrong with one of his legs and arms, but Moody couldn't tell what. The boy didn't seem to be carrying anything that looked like a wand, which he found rather surprising, but he didn't let his guard down. If it was a vampire or werewolf, or something that didn't need a wand, then things were about to get a lot more dangerous.
"I lied; you have changed, Al." A young voice said. "hadn't realised your such a slob now."
"I can assure you, it wasn't like this when I left," said another muffled voice still outside.
"What, you have pets or something? Let me guess… a cat," the first intruder said.
"Actually it's a bird, but…." the second replied.
While they were distracted, Moody made his move. Flinging himself around the corner, he set off multiple spells in the direction of the first intruder.
Who ducked.
The last thing Moody saw the flurry of red and gold was a fist coming towards his face.
