TW Death, violence

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July 27th, 1997

"Hello, Harry," Hagrid bellows as soon as the front door opens. "You're looking fit."

Harry grins and immediately goes to hug Ron and Hermione.

"Yeah he's absolutely gorgeous," Moody teases, his voice monotone. "What say we get undercover before someone murders him."

I follow Moody and Arthur Weasley into 12 Privet Drive. Harry gives me a quick hug as I walk in before all of us file into the empty living room. Moody throws two sacks down in the middle of the floor and goes to look around.

"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Prime Minister," Harry says.

"You are more important," Kingsley replies.

Bill Weasley and Fleur enter the room and start talking to Harry with an interjection from his younger brother, Fred. Bill points to the scars on his face, "Yeah, owe it all to a werewolf named Greyback."

"Well, you're still beautiful to me, William," Fleur says, pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

I wish Regulus was will me. I look over to where Jack is standing at my side. I don't mind his presence one bit, but I wish that Regulus was here. But it's not safe for us to go stuff like this together, especially because of the kids.

"Just remember, Fleur, Bill takes his stakes on the raw side now," Remus teases.

"My husband, the joker," Tonks says, shaking her head. "By the way, wait til you hear the news. Remus and I-"

"Oh, all right, all right!" Moody grumbles as he comes back into the room. "We'll have time for a cozy catch-up later. We've got to get the hell out of here... and soon!"

I glance at Remus and Tonks and give the two of them a knowing look.

"Potter, you're underage, which means you've still got the trace on you," Moody explains.

"What's the trace?" Harry asks.

"Why, if you sneeze, the Ministry will know who wipes your nose. The point is we have to use those means of transport the trace can't detect," Moody says, "Brooms, thestrals, and the like. We go in pairs. That way, if there's anyone out there waiting for us, and I reckon there will be, they won't know which Harry Potter is the real one."

"The real one?" Harry questions, sounding slightly concerned.

Moody pulls out a flask. "I believe you're familiar with this particular brew." He pops the lid open.

"No. Absolutely not," Harry says.

"I told you he'd take it well," Hermione says.

"No, if you think I'm going to let everyone risk their lives for me, I-"

Ron smirks, "Never done that before, have we?"

"No! No, this is different," Harry says. "I mean taking that, becoming me-, no!"

"Well, none of us really fancy it mate," George says.

Fred grins, "Yeah. Imagine if something went wrong and we ended up a scrawny, specky git forever." He looks over at me and winks and I roll my eyes.

"Everyone here is of age, Potter," Moody says. "They've all agreed to take the risk.

Someone clears their throat and Mundungus Fletcher steps forward. "Technically, I've been coerced," He says. "Mundungus Fletcher, Mister Potter. Always been a huge admirer."

"Nip it, Mundungus!" Moody yells. Mundungus retreats back into the corner of the room. "Alright, as we discussed, Granger."

Hermione steps forward and pulls a single hair from Harry's head. "Blimey, Hermione!" Harry complains, going to rub his head.

I watch as Hermione puts the hair in the flask and it starts bubbling. He sloshes the flask around as all of us get in a big circle. "For those of you who haven't taken Polyjuice Potion before, fair warning, it tastes like Goblin piss."

"Have a lot of experience with that, do you, Mad-Eye?" Fred jokes. Moody frowns at him. "Just trying to diffuse the tension." He takes a sip and grimaces before he passes it to his twin, George.

Jack frowns as the flask is being passed around and everyone looks visibly disgusted by the potion as they drink it. The flask reaches him and he quickly takes a sip and swallows it before passing it to Mundungus.

I stand back with Remus and Tonks as seven people start morphing into identicals of Harry Potter.

"Wow! We're identical," Fred and George chime in unison as they look at each other.

"Not yet you're not," Mad-Eye says. He empties the sack of matching clothes into the middle of the circle and steps back as everyone starts to get changed.

"You haven't got anything a bit more sporting, have you?" George says.

"Yeah, I don't really fancy this color," Fred adds.

Moody frowns, "Well, fancy this. You're not you. So shut it and strip."

I stifle a laugh and turn back towards Remus and Tonks while everyone gets changed. "Are you sure you're going to be alright?" I quietly ask Tonks.

"Oh, you sound like Remus, I'll be fine," She replies with a playful tone to his voice.

Remus shakes his head. "She's impossible to convince," He says, looking over at me. "So are you."

"I am not," I say.

"Meredith, you got mad when Moody wouldn't let you go on any missions when you were pregnant," Remus says.

"Rightfully so," Tonks says. "I'm only allowed to go because Moody doesn't know yet."

I laugh and glance over at Remus, who's shaking his head. "Oh, you're going to have your hands full in about nine months."

Moody clears his throat to gather everyone's attention. He puts everyone into pairs and then Hagrid says something heartfelt to Harry before he's ushering all of us out of the house.

We all get in our pairs. Jack and I are on broomsticks. I haven't flown for over a year, but flying is one of the things that I'll always be good at. You don't win championships by being bad at flying, the same goes for Jack.

"Head for the Burrow, we'll rendezvous there," Moody announces. "On the count of three."

I glance over at Jack, who looks identical to Harry, and he nods.

"One... two... three!"

I'm off the ground and already soaring through the sky. Jack stays close to my side as we fly through the night sky.

It's cloudy and foggy, even up in the air, which is typical for London. The visibility isn't the best, but things are going smoothly, at least until the first spell is shot towards us and Jack and I have to barrel roll to get out of the way.

Lucius Malfoy comes into view. He has a wand raised, not his wand, and is firing off spells in our direction.

I dodge every single attempt, Jack mimicking my movements. I guess I can thank six years of playing quidditch together for that.

We pick up speed and start to get a distance between us and Lucius Malfoy.

I raise my wand and turn back to fire off a spell. It lands and Malfoy's motions are arrested immediately. He hovers in the air with his wand raised, an irritated look on his face.

Now that he's taken care of, I can focus on my flying more.

I spot Bill and Fleur in the distance on a thestral. We fly towards them.

"They got Moody," Bill yells.

"Shit," I mutter, hoping that everyone else is safe.

There's another flash of light coming from a wand and Selwyn comes into view. Before he can attempt to fire off another spell, Bill hits him with a stunning spell and he goes plummeting to the earth below.

We all speed through the sky until the countryside finally comes into view. I spot the Burrow in the distance and start descending.

Regulus is standing in the yard with Harry, Remus, Kingsley, Hagrid, and Hermione. He looks the most anxious I've seen him in years. He looks scared.

My feet are barely on the ground when I drop my broom ans start rushing towards my husband. Regulus barrels towards me, his arms extended.

I throw my arms around his neck and he hugs me tightly. "I was so worried, everyone else was starting to get back-" He says, his voice muffled since his head is buried in the crook of my neck.

"Got a bit caught up with Malfoy," I say. "But I'm okay, no injuries."

Regulus pulls back and sighs. He looks me up and down, looking for any injuries. "Thank, Merlin," He says, cupping my face with his hands.

Regulus kisses me, then kisses me again before he's pulling back to look at me.

He's looking over my shoulder so I turn around to see that Tonks and Ron are back safely. Hermione immediately goes up to Ron and throws her arms around him. He grins like an idiot but pulls himself together when they break apart.

"Deserves that, brilliant he was," Tonks says. "I wouldn't be standing here without him."

"Really?" Hermione asks.

Ron gives her a lopsided smile. "Always the tone of surprise," He says.

Harry goes running over towards them and the three teenagers hug. There's a whooshing and Arthur and Fred Weasley walk over.

"We the last back?" Arthur asks, throwing an arm around George's shoulders. Remus gives him a look. "Where's George?" Arthur asks, concern etched across his face.

When no one answers, they both go rushing into the house. I give Regulus a look before I'm following them back into the house as well.

George Weasley is slaying on the couch, dried blood on the side of his face. He's missing an ear and looks extremely pale.

"He's okay," Regulus tells me. "Snape cursed his ear off."

"That son of a bitch-"

"Mum, you're back!" Elio exclaims.

I glance over at the living room where Jack was attempting to keep Atlas and Elio away from George while I was with Regulus.

Both of my sons come running towards me, both of them hugging me. I stumble back a bit from the force, but hug them back.

"I told you I would be," I tell them.

"Are you okay, mum?" Atlas asks.

I nod, "Not even a scratch." I squeeze them both a bit harder before letting both of them go and glancing back at Regulus. "And Cassie?" I ask.

"She's asleep upstairs," He says.

I let out a sigh of relief knowing that all of my family is okay. We're all safe.