TW: Death

Harry watched as the Dursley's car left the driveway.

He was alone in the house he, sadly, grew up in. It was, as always, groomed to perfection. There wasn't a single thing out of place. Not even a speck of dust. 

Involuntarily, Harry thought of what his life would've been like without Voldemort. His parents would've been alive. Sirius wouldn't have gone to Azkaban. Nova would've been his best friend sooner and pulled pranks as they had done when they were younger, but stopped as the war came. 

In his mind, James Potter would've been the most embarrassing person at Harry's quidditch games. He'd cheer the loudest and make a scene. Lily Potter would've been like Remus; laid back but when it came to certain rules, there was no crossing them. Sirius would "give Harry tips on dating". They'd end in catastrophes and eventually stopped once Harry started dating Nova. 

"Nice place, eh?" An amused voice said from behind Harry, causing him to jump. "I much rather prefer Lupin Cottage. It's a bit too . . .clean . . .here."

Nova stood there in all her glory with a grin plastered upon her face. She leaned against one of Petunia Dursley's perfectly pristine walls. She wore her black leather jacket over Harry's grey hoodie and blue skinny jeans with black converses. 

"Welcome to the lovely Home of Dursley!" Harry grinned as he motioned to the wall with nothing but pictures of Dudley. It was like he was an advertiser for some new product. "This is what I call 'The Wall Of Duddikins'! It's a show-stopping attraction."

Nova giggled. "It's a shame his poetry isn't up there."

"Let's please not bring up his poetry," Harry pleaded. "The number of times I had to hear him recite it in his room . . ." Harry shuddered. "The worst part was when he asked me how they sounded."

Nova flopped onto Petunia's perfect couch. 

"I swear, if he talked about your hair one more time, I was going to stun him," Harry groaned as he flopped next to Nova. 

"You love my hair," Nova pointed out with a smirk.

"That's not the point!" Harry objected as he became flustered. "Don't even get me started on how he described your eyes! He said they were the color of almonds! Almonds! They are not the color of almonds!"

Nova tried desperately to stifle her laughter. Her attempts were unsuccessful. 

"He sounds like a love-struck James going on about what color Lily's eyes are," Sirius laughed. 

"You are aware this is your daughter, right?" Marlene raised an eyebrow. 

"Right . . .Bad, Potter! No!"

"Why are you here? I thought Mad-Eye was just coming," Harry stated as he and Nova laid down on the couch. Nova had her spine to the back of the couch as she curled into Harry's side. He laid on his back with his head on the armrest as his arms around her. 

"Change of plans. Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about," Nova assured as she inhaled Harry's cologne. "Moodster and I came up with a plan."

"I hate your plans."

"Too bad."

"If you die, I'm killing you."

"Goes both ways, darlin."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

"Ew." A voice said as they appeared. "Georgie! They're being cute again!"

The Weasley twins stood six feet tall. Their red hair was messy and freckles were like maps across their faces. 

"Fred. Shut up!" Nova groaned. "Just because Angie is waiting till marriage-"

"Nova Lily," Remus warned as he entered the room. 

Harry noted he looked the healthiest he's been in years. Two years if you want to be specific. Since Sirius's death. He even looked happier. 

"Hi, Pa," Nova greeted with a smile as she sat up. "Anyways . . .Fredrick, just because Angelina is being a queen and waiting until you grow a pair and ask her for marriage doesn't mean you can be a complete prat."

"That hurt," Fred pouted as he held a hand over his heart. "Right here."

"Boo who," Nova pouted. 

Nova jumped up and hugged Hermione as she entered. Her bushy brown hair was tied into a messy bun and she smiled brightly. 

"When we return," Hermione whispered to Nova. "I want to hear about your little . . .camping trip."

"Are you sure you wanna hear all of it?" Nova grinned. 

"Leave out a few parts, please," Hermione laughed. 

"Nova!" Moody called gruffly. His long dark cloak swished around as he walked. His prosthetic leg was loud and Nova knew Petunia would faint at the mere sight of the scary man. Nova personally found she trusted the man more than she trusted a lot of people. He is her mentor, and she loves him. He became another parental figure to Nova.

"Yes, Colonel Moodster?" Nova grinned. 

"Have you informed Mr. Potter of the plan?" 

"Nah. Thought I'd leave it up to you," Nova grinned. 

"Someone got distracted," Ron sang. His red hair was not messy and his blue eyes shone with amusement. 

Nova gave him the finger. 

"I would like to know why everyone's here," Harry announced. 

"Change of plan," growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous, bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to the house to garden with dizzying rapidity."Let's get undercover before we talk you through it." 

Harry led everyone all into the kitchen where laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Petunia's gleaming work surfaces, or leaned up against her spotless appliances: Ron, long and lanky; Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a messy bun; Fred and George, grinning identically; Bill, badly scarred and long-haired; Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spectacles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was her favorite shade of bright pink; Lupin, grayer, more lined; Fleur, slender and beautiful, with her long silvery blonde hair; Kingsley, bald, black, broad-shouldered; Hagrid, with his wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and hangdog, with his droopy basset hound's eyes and matted hair. Harry's heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight: He felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom he had tried to strangle the last time they had met.

Nova was glaring at Mundungus. 

"Why is he here?" She snarled. 

"He's helping, Lion," Remus announced. 

"Bullshit," Mundungus quivered under Nova's glare. She took a step towards him. "I'm warning you, Dung. If you fuck this up, and one of us dies, I will personally send my house elves to find you. If you don't want to be on the end of Kreacher's swinging pans, Binky's sundress, or my fist, I suggest you don't mess this up."

"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" Harry called across the room, breaking the tension. 

"He can get along without me for one night," said Kingsley smiled faintly. "You're more important." 

"Harry, guess what?" said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him; a ring glittered there. 

"You got married?" Harry yelped, looking from her to Remus. 

"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet." 

"I would've made the best damn flower girl," Sirius grinned. 

"No! I would've!" James objected. 

"That's brilliant, congrat —"

"All right, all right, we'll have time for a cozy catch-up later!" roared Moody over the hubbub, and silence fell in the kitchen. Moody dropped his sacks at his feet and turned to Harry. "As Dedalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thicknesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He's made it an imprisonable offense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or Apparate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Absolutely pointless, seeing as your mother's charm does that already. What he's really done is to stop you from getting out of here safely. Second problem: You're underage, which means you've still got the Trace on you." 

"I don't —" 

"The Trace, the Trace!" said Mad-Eye impatiently. "The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about underage magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters."

"Basically," Nova began. "If you sneeze, the hags know."

"We can't wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen you'll lose all the protection your mother gave you. In short: Pius Thicknesse thinks he's got you cornered good and proper." 

"So what are we going to do?" 

"We're going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace can't detect, because we don't need to cast spells to use them: brooms, thestrals, and Hagrid's motorbike.

"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or" — Moody gestured around the pristine kitchen — "you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that you're never going to live together again, correct?" 

Harry nodded. 

"So this time, when you leave, there'll be no going back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. We're choosing to break it early because the alternative is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seventeen."The one thing we've got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesn't know we're moving you tonight. We've leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: They think you're not leaving until the thirtieth. However, this is You-Know-Who we're dealing with, so we can't just rely on him getting the date wrong; he's bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this general area, just in case. So, we've given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place we're going to hide you, they've all got some connection with the Order: my house, Kingsley's place, Molly's Auntie Muriel's — you get the idea." 

"Yeah," said Harry, not entirely truthfully, because he could still spot a gaping hole in the plan.

"You'll be going to Tonks's parents. Once you're within the boundaries of the protective enchantments we've put on their house, you'll be able to use a Portkey to the Burrow. Any questions?"

"Er — yes," said Harry. "Maybe they won't know which of the twelve secure houses I'm heading for at first, but won't it be sort of obvious once" — he performed a quick headcount —"fourteen of us fly off toward Tonks's parents'?" 

"Ah," said Moody, "I forgot to mention the key point. Fourteen of us won't be flying to Tonk's parents'. There will be seven Harry Potters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a companion, each pair heading for a different safe house."

"Now, I would hope you see the whole in the plan," Nova stepped forward. "Obviously, everyone knows what you look like. So, with the help of some magic, it'll be hard for them to know which Harry Potter is which-"

Mad-Eye withdrew a flask from his cloak. 

"You don't mean-"

"Don't interrupt me, Harold," Nova countered as she grabbed a red apple from the icebox. "There will be seven Harry Potters leaving here tonight. One will be the real one, and six will be imposters."

"No!" Harry said loudly, his voice ringing through the kitchen. "No way!"

"Yes."

"I don't like this idea."

"Too bad."

"I told them you'd take it like this," said Hermione with a hint of complacency. 

"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives — !" 

"— because it's the first time for all of us," said Ron. 

"This is different, pretending to be me —" 

"Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry," said Fred earnestly. "Imagine if something went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever." 

Harry did not smile. 

"You can't do it if I don't cooperate, you need me to give you some hair." 

"Well, that's that plan scuppered," said George. "Obviously there's no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you cooperate." 

"Yeah, fourteen of us against one bloke who's not allowed to use magic; we've got no chance," said Fred.

"Funny," said Harry, "really amusing."

"I think so," Ron shrugged. 

"If it has to come to force, then it will," growled Moody, his magical eye now quivering a little in its socket as he glared at Harry. "Everyone here's overage, Potter, and they're all prepared to take the risk." 

Mundungus shrugged and grimaced; the magical eye swerved sideways to glare at him out of the side of Moody's head. 

"Let's have no more arguments. Time's wearing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now." 

"But this is mad, there's no need —" 

"No need!" snarled Moody. "With You-Know-Who out there and half the Ministry on his side? Potter, if we're lucky he'll have swallowed the fake bait and he'll be planning to ambush you on the thirtieth, but he'd be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, it's what I'd do. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother's charm holds, but it's about to break and they know the rough position of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even You-Know-Who can't split himself into seven." 

Harry caught Hermione's eye and looked away at once. 

"So, Potter — some of your hair, if you please." 

Harry glanced at Ron, who grimaced at him in a just-do-it sort of way. 

His eyes drifted to Nova. She quirked her eyebrow up as if daring him to challenge a group of magical beings. 

"Now!" barked Moody. With all of their eyes upon him, Harry reached up to the top of his head, grabbed a hank of hair, and pulled."Good," said Moody, limping forward as he pulled the stopper out of the flask of the potion."Straight in here, if you please."

Harry dropped the hair into the mudlike liquid. The moment it made contact with its surface, the potion began to froth and smoke, then, all at once, it turned a clear, bright gold. 

"Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry," said Hermione, before catching sight of Ron's raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and saying, "Oh, you know what I mean —Goyle's potion looked like bogies." 

"At least you didn't have to turn into Parkinson." Nova grimaced. 

"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please," said Moody. Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur lined up in front of Petunia's gleaming sink. 

"We're one short," said Remus. 

"Here," said Hagrid gruffly, and he lifted Mundungus by the scruff of the neck and dropped him down beside Fleur, who wrinkled her nose pointedly and moved along to stand between Fred and George instead. 

"I've toldjer, I'd sooner be a protector," said Mundungus.

"Shut it," growled Moody. "As I've already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eaterswe run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. Dumbledore always said You-Know-Who would want to finish Potter in person. It'll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about, the Death Eaters'll want to kill them."

Harry's eyes drifted to Nova who was lounging off to the side. 

"Hold on! Isn't Nova a target too?" He spoke. "She shouldn't even be here."

"You try keeping her from doing something," Remus groaned. "That child gave me more grey hairs than she should've."

Nova grinned proudly. 

"Besides I can just cloak myself to look like a random woman," Nova shrugged. "And I'll be with Moody so there isn't a need to worry about my safety."

What Nova and Mad-Eye didn't tell the group was their real plan. The group would set off towards their safe house as planned. However, the moment they took off, Nova would look like Nova Lupin-Black. She's wanted just as much, if not more, by Voldemort. This means she is a top priority to Death Eaters. This means their attention would be drawn to Nova, Moody, and 'Harry'. 

It was Nova's plan. It's brilliant, but the risk factor . . .

It's safe to say Remus will have more grey hairs after tonight. 

"Altogether, then . . ." Moody growled. 

Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus drank. All of them gasped and grimaced as the potion hit their throats: At once, their features began to bubble and distort like hot wax. Hermione and Mundungus were shooting upward; Ron, Fred, and George were shrinking; their hair was darkening, Hermione's and Fleur's appearing to shoot backward into their skulls. Moody, quite unconcerned, was now loosening the ties of the large sacks he had brought with him. When he straightened up again, there were six Harry Potters gasping and panting in front of him. 

Fred and George turned to each other and said together, "Wow — we're identical!" 

"I dunno, though, I think I'm still better-looking," said Fred, examining his reflection in the kettle. 

"Bah," said Fleur, checking herself in the microwave door, "Bill, don't look at me — I'm'ideous."

Nova sniggered. 

"Those whose clothes are a bit roomy, I've got smaller here," said Moody, indicating the first sack, "and vice versa. Don't forget the glasses, there's six pairs in the side pocket. And when you're dressed, there's luggage in the other sack." 

The real Harry thought that this might just be the most bizarre thing he had ever seen, and he had seen some extremely odd things. He watched as his six doppelgangers rummaged in the sacks, pulling out sets of clothes, putting on glasses, stuffing their own things away. He felt like asking them to show a little more respect for his privacy as they all began stripping off with impunity, clearly much more at ease with displaying his body than they would have been with their own. 

"I knew Nova was lying about that tattoo," said Ron, looking down at his bare chest. Last school term, Nova told Romilda Harry had a Hungarian horntail tattooed on his chest. 

"Harry, your eyesight really is awful," said Hermione, as she put on glasses.

"Well I don't wear them for fun," Harry sassed. 

Once dressed, the fake Harrys took rucksacks and owl cages, each containing a stuffed snowy owl, from the second sack. 

"Good," said Moody, as at last seven dressed, bespectacled, and luggage-laden Harrys faced him. "The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus and Nova will be traveling with me, by broom —" 

"Why'm I with you?" grunted the Harry nearest the back door. 

"Because you're the one that needs watching," growled Moody, and sure enough, his magical eye did not waver from Mundungus as he continued, "Arthur and Fred —" 

"I'm George," said the twin at whom Moody was pointing. 

"Can't you even tell us apart when we're Harry?" 

"Sorry, George —" 

"I'm only yanking your wand, I'm Fred really —" 

"Enough messing around!" snarled Moody. 

"The other one — George or Fred or whoever you are — you're with Remus. Miss Delacour —" 

"I'm taking Fleur on a thestral," said Bill. "She's not that fond of brooms." 

Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again. 

"Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by thestral —" Hermione looked reassured as she answered Kingsley's smile; Harry knew that Hermione too lacked confidence on a broomstick. 

"Which leaves you and me, Ron!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a mug tree as she waved at him.

"An' you're with me, Harry. That all righ'?" said Hagrid, looking a little anxious. "We'll be on the bike, brooms an' thestrals can't take me weight, see. Not a lot o' room on the seat with me on it, though, so you'll be in the sidecar." 

"That's great," said Harry, not altogether truthfully. 

"We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom," said Moody, who seemed to guess how Harry was feeling. "Snape's had plenty of time to tell them everything about you whenever mentioned before, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, we're betting they'll choose one of the Potters who look at home on a broomstick. All right then," he went on, tying up the sack with the fake Potters' clothes in it and leading the way back to the door, "I make it three minutes until we're supposed to leave. No point locking the back door, it won't keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. . . . Come on. . . ."

Everyone had left. Harry moved to leave when she grabbed his wrist. 

"Do not do anything stupid," Her honey eyes were wide as she pleaded. "And don't you dare go soft on them. No disarming charms. No first year hexes. You aim to harm, Har."

"I won't," Harry promised. 

Nova wrapped her arms around his torso as he brought her into a hug. 

"I'll see you soon," Nova pulled away. 

"You better."

"I'm with Mad-Eye," Nova rolled her eyes. "I'll be fine."

Harry joined Hagrid as Nova moved towards Mad-Eye. She temporarily cloaked herself to be nearly six-foot tall. She had long dark hair that fell into natural curls. Her warm honey eyes changed to dark brown. Her skin went from a beach tan to olive-colored. 

"Yeah  . . .so . . ." Sirius began. "I don't like this."

"Somethings going to go wrong," Dorcus murmured nervously as Marlene played with her dark curly hair. It was Marlene's way of calming down. It always has been. 

"If she dies, I'm killing Sirius," Regulus stated firmly. 

"You need to find a new person to kill, Reg," Lily laughed despite the situation. "He's already dead."

"Yeah- Wait!" Sirius glared at his younger brother. 

"Good luck, everyone," shouted Moody as Nova swung her legs over her firebolt. "See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One . . . two . . . THREE."

As planned, everyone shot into the sky. The ride was smooth for about two minutes. In those two minutes, Nova dropped her disguise; just as planned.

What wasn't planned, was the rain of spells and curses sent towards the Order after those 120 seconds were up. Shouts were heard. Screams of terror and shock.

Shouts of panic were heard in Heaven. 

The moment the Order broke the circle, Voldemort appeared before Mad-Eye. Mundungus, out of fear, let out a shout and apparated on the spot. 

"Nova! Go!" Mad-Eye yelled hoarsely. "Get to the portk-"

Moody's words died on his lips as Voldemort raised his wand to the man. Greenlight struck his face. 

"Oh my Merlin!" Euphemia exclaimed as she clasped her hand to her face. 

Tears sprung into Nova's eyes. He warned her. He couldn't raise his wand to defend himself . . .he was too busy warning Nova. 

Voldemort turned his glare to Nova. 

"Where's your boyfriend?"

"I haven't the faintest clue what you're on about," Nova said strongly, despite the guilt in her heart. 

Nova felt Voldemort try and enter her mind. She intensified her glare and raised her wand to kill him. 

"Avad-"

Voldemort had already shot a spell at Nova. She was forced to dive straight towards the ground to escape the spell. Her body was pressed to the broom as she flew parallel to the ground. Looking behind her, Nova saw no one. But when she turned around . . .

It was Greta Morgenstern. 

Nova barrel turned in the air to escape yet another spell. With the flick of her wand, Greta fell one hundred feet into the pond below. 

For the first time in Nova's life, she ran away from the danger. For the first time in her life, she didn't go back hoping to save someone. For the first time in her life, Nova aimed to save herself. 

"BOMBARDA!" Bellatrix's voice came from behind Nova. A nearby streetlight exploded, sending sparks everywhere. 

"SECTEMSEMPRA!" Nova yelled as she pointed her wand at Bellatrix who flew to her left. 

"Need to try hard than that, Baby Black!" Bellatrix taunted. 

"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them," Molly Weasley told Harry said. "And that one," she pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Dad and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. You and Hagrid were fourth and," she checked her watch, "if they made it, George andLupin ought to be back in about a minute."

"Mrs. Weasley," Harry asked hurriedly. "If Hagrid and I are fourth. . . who was third?"

"Nova, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus," Molly said faintly as she pointed towards one of Nova's black beanies. 

Harry began to panic. His heart began to beat faster. 

Then Remus and George appeared. George was . . .missing an ear.

Lilly rushed out of the Burrow and attempted to help George inside with tears shining in her eyes. She wasn't much help in carrying George seeing as he was a foot taller than she is.

Sparks shot from the end of Bellatrix's wand. Nova barely had enough time to block it before another spell was thrown at her. Nova blocked spell after spell. 

Finally one caught her right bicep. 

Blood began to trickle down Nova's arm. 

"It's a shame to have to spill more Black blood," Bellatrix pouted. "You come from such noble blood, Nova-"

"I don't fucking care," Nova hissed a flicked her wand, sending Bellatrix backward. 

"So what kept you? What happened?" Remus sounded almost angry at Tonks after she and Ron appeared. 

"Bellatrix," said Tonks. "She wants me quite as much as she wants Harry, Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish I'd got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus. . . . Then we got to Ron's Auntie Muriel's and we'd missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us —"

A muscle was jumping in Remus's jaw. He nodded but seemed unable to say anything else. 

"So what happened to you lot?" Tonks asked, turning to Harry, Hermione, and Kingsley. "Where's Nova? She was supposed to be back already."

"They missed their portkey . . ." Hermione said turning a deathly pale. "We don't know where she, Mad-Eye, and Dung are."

Nova flew with every last ounce of strength she had dodging spells as she went. She had already taken several detours in hopes of throwing the Death Eaters chasing her off. 

"Auguamenti!" Nova pointed her wand at Snape. "There ya go, Snivs! You finally got the shower you needed!"

A spell flew towards Nova from Snape's wand. Nova ducked, causing his spell to hit a tree. 

"BOMBARDA!" A voice sneered, pointing his wand directly at Nova. Once more, Nova dived away. 

A tree exploded, sending pieces of wood everywhere. One embedded itself in the gut of the Death Eater who cast the spell. Another piece of wood smacked Snape in the head. 

"Mad-Eye's dead."

Bill, Fleur, Fred, and Arthur just arrived at the Burrow. Fred was instantly inside to see his twin. 

"We saw it," said Bill; Fleur nodded, tear tracks glittering on her cheeks in the light from the kitchen window. "It happened just after we broke out of the circle: Mad-Eye and Dung were close by us, they were heading north too. Voldemort — he can fly — went straight for them. Dung panicked, I heard him cry out, Mad-Eye tried to stop him, but he Disapparated. Voldemort's curse hit Mad-Eye full in the face, he fell backward off his broom and — there was nothing we could do, nothing, we had half a dozen of them on our own tail —"

"Where's the bloody hell is my daughter?" Remus growled. 

"Moony's pissed," James stated. 

"No shit, Sherlock Holmes," Lily sassed.

"S-she w-was dueling You-Know-Who," Fleur stammered. "'hat's when w-we l-last s-saw 'er."

"So where is she now?" Harry asked urgently. 

"FUCKING SHIT!" a voice yelled from outside the Burrow. 

Everyone ran to the outside of the Burrow. 

There stood a very battered Nova. There were twigs in her hair, making it wild. Her firebolt was held in her hands. The only injure she seemed to have was the gash on her arm.

Remus was the first one to her. He was about to wrap his arms around her but paused. Instead, he pulled out his wand and pointed it at her. 

"What was the first thing you gave Sirius when we discovered his innocence?" Remus said in a stone voice. 

Despite the tears forming in her eyes, Nova answered. 

"A bloody haircut," Nova answered. "Then it was a dog house. You spent two hours trying to read the instructions in Chinese when the English ones were a foot away."

"Sorry, Lion," Remus murmured into her hair as he wrapped his around her. "Just a precaution."

"It's okay, Pa," Nova stated. "Moodster died."

"We know, Nox," Hermione sniffed as she hugged Nova. "You're the last to return."

"What else happened?" 

"George lost an ear. Now, we are subjected to his horrible ear jokes." Ron laughed but left with Hermione into the house. 

This left Nova and Harry alone. 

"Are you alright?" He asked with his brows furrowed. 

"'m alright," Nova assured. "Just a scratch."

"The last time you said that your collar bone was broken," Harry crossed his arms. 

"You worry too much," Nova rolled her eyes with a small laugh. 

Harry and Nova entered the Burrow, and Nova immediately rushed to George's side. 

"Look! There she is!" George grinned. "I've been keepin' an ear out for you."

"That. Was. Horrible." Nova laughed. Then she turned to Fred. "Oi! Freddie, do you remember when you asked if Georgie needed another ear?"

"Looks like you'll be needin' it now," Fred grinned.