Moody immediately burst through the door, followed close behind by the rest of the Order. He raised his wand and began shouting incantations none of the Gryffindors recognized. The flames seemed to be pushed back in on themselves and with it the skeleton hand was also forced backwards and disappeared through the smoke.

"Everyone get your things, now." Moody barked. He whipped out an empty bottle from his satchel and began muttering spells. Ron and Hermione both immediately grabbed their things and ran towards Moody, still in shock as to what had just happened. Ginny was in hysterics crying and refusing to move, resulting in Fred and George holding her and together moving her towards the wizard.

Mrs. Weasley wrapped her arms around all of her children, eyes wide and wand gripped so tightly her knuckles turned white. She tried to say soothing words to her youngest child, but Ginny only cried louder and shook harder.

"What was that thing?" Mr. Weasley shouted, dragging a trunk towards Moody.

"It was dark magic," he growled. "I told you we needed to leave but none of you listened." He turned to Mrs. Weasley.

"Here," he said, handing her the empty bottle. "This is going to take you to the Burrow for now. Until we are able to contact Dumbledore, we need to stay in places he can contact us. Preferably places where Death Eaters can't."

"Kingsley!" Moody barked. "Go with them, check the house for any dark magic before you let everyone inside."

"Arthur, my clock," Mrs. Weasley said, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as her husband passed the priceless possession to her. She glanced down at the hands only to see that nothing had changed.

"Only a few more seconds now, everyone grab on." Moody said, causing the family to move in closer so as everyone had a finger on the bottle.

"One, two, three —"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

It was mid-November now, the bitter winds had begun to pick up more often and Quidditch practice was becoming less and less enjoyable as the weather fought against them. Even James groaned each evening after dinner, knowing that they all had to make their way to the pitch for practice. The team had been doing alright at games; Harry continued to be an amazing Seeker during games but during practices he rarely seemed to be paying attention. Everyone silently thought the same thing: just because he was so good didn't mean James should treat him so lightly. If any of them had hovered in one place for twenty minutes without realizing everyone had landed to discuss a new formation, James would have yelled and after repeated offenses even suspended them from the team. Everyone also seemed to realize that they needed Harry on the team more than they needed him to pay attention during practice. Everyone except —

"Look, Potter," Paige Elliot said with a frown, her arms crossed. "You need to get Williams focused. I don't come to practices to waste time trying to get someone else to participate."

"Paige, I've already tried talking to him —" James started with a sigh as he packed the Quidditch balls back into the trunk.

"No, you're captain, not him." Paige said sharply. "Stop letting him walk all over you. You treat him like he's bloody royalty."

"Hey, you watch your tone, you're not captain either." Sirius said glaring. "And Harry's the only reason we're doing so well this season, last game you were the one that missed that easy shot against Slytherin so if anyone needs more practice it's definitely not Harry, it's you."

Paige glared and immediately spun on her heel and headed back to the castle in a huff. Sirius scoffed before picking up the other end of the trunk and helping James bring it into the shed.

"She's a royal prat herself, isn't she?"

James nodded.

"But she does have a point, mate." Sirius said as they placed the trunk in the back of the shed with a thud. "Harry's seemed really out of it for the past few weeks, I think his relationship with that girl he won't tell us about isn't going well."

"Maybe… I saw the grade he got back on an essay for Transfiguration, it was not good. The thing is, he even explained the topic to me and I got a better grade than he did." James said bewildered.

"He's just not focused on anything." Sirius muttered. "Or he's too focused on something else."

"Maybe he's depressed." James suggested as the two boys shouldered their brooms and began walking to the castle. "I would be depressed if I didn't have any family or any memories."

"Maybe… Or he's depressed because he has begun remembering things."

The two walked in silence for a while, deep in thought about their friend. As they neared the castle, they could just barely make out a red headed girl, bundled in black robes with a red and gold Gryffindor scarf. Sirius grinned.

"How are things with Evans?"

James looked away with a small smile.

"I dunno, mate. Things have been getting better I think. Ever since I stopped bothering Snape so much and playing pranks — " Sirius grasped his heart, letting out of a dramatic moan of sorrow " — she's been a lot nicer. I mean she was always nice, but now she doesn't ignore me when I try to talk to her. She even suggested we worked together in Herbology because we spend so much time doing Head Boy and Girl stuff that we might as well do the homework together too. Can you believe that?" James smiled. "Can you believe that she, Lily Evans, asked me, her sworn enemy, to do Herbology homework together? I didn't even know that she was so good at it, she seems to know everything. She loves plants so much. I never even knew."

Sirius raised an eyebrow as James stared forward vacantly, a soft smile on his face.

"There's so much about her that I don't know, and yet the more I learn the more I can't stop thinking about her. She's not just beautiful, she's… everything."

James jumped as Sirius began making loud gagging noises and pulling disgusted faces.

"Have you been drinking spiked pumpkin juice? Who snuck a love potion into your food?"

James just laughed as they walked up the stone steps. Sure enough, it was Lily waiting for him at the top of the steps. The three stood together for a few moments, Lily and James shyly not making eye contact. Sirius rolled his eyes and muttered something about going to the kitchens before strolling into the castle.

"So, how was practice?" Lily asked. James's smile widened. She had even been taking an interest in Quidditch, something she had always so vehemently thought to be a waste of time.

"It was good, thanks." James responded with a goofy grin. "How was Herbology Club?"

"It was good," Lily looked down at her feet, her cheeks turning pink. She cleared her throat and looked back at James.

"So, do you want to go to the meeting?"

"I have to shower still," James said, gesturing to his muddy robes. "Isn't a bit early, anyways?"

Lily blushed and began mumbling about how she hadn't noticed, but it seemed that she had wanted to spend the extra time together.

"Let's go back to the tower and I'll shower really quickly and then we can head down, maybe we can go over some Herbology as well?"

"Yeah!" Lily said brightly, before quickly composing herself. "Yes, that sounds like a good idea." Together, the unlikely pair walked through the huge oak doors.

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

The Weasley family as well as Hermione and Kingsley fell to the ground roughly, none of them able to keep their balanced.

"You all stay outside," Kinglsey said, standing and brushing off his robes.

"I'll come with you," Mr. Weasley said, helping his wife up who also nodded. The adults walked slowly towards the building. Silently, Bill, Charlie, and Fleur also decided to help search the home and set up protective barriers.

Before they could reach the building however, the Burrow burst into flames with such strength that the force sent everyone back onto the ground.

Quickly, Kingsley jumped to his feet and began running to the Burrow, shouting instructions noe one could hear over the roar of the flames and loud cracks of Death Eaters arriving.

"Avada Kedavra!" a gruff voice shouted, sending a green jet of light at Kingsley and hitting him square in the back.

Mr. and Mrs. Weasley began running back to the group, sending spells at the hundreds of Death Eaters that begun to swarm the field outside their home. Screams and shouts echoed throughout the chaos. Everyone was running in different directions, scattering and confused.

Hermione couldn't keep track of everyone, she tried to shout but before she could say anything Fred and George sprinted across the field to aid their parents. She saw Fleur crouched on the ground crying as she fought back Death Eaters, her body over Bill's motionless one. Before Ginny and Ron could run towards their fallen brother, Hermione grabbed onto both of their arms roughly and disapparated.