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9. The Race by 30 Seconds to Mars | Visitors at the Burrow

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ROXANNE

The Burrow was beyond crowded, it was packed full. It was to the point that I was positive we couldn't fit anyone else in it. But at the same time, two more people couldn't make much of a difference. However, when one of those people was Maxine Potter, the house would seem even more suffocating than usual.

It wasn't that I didn't like her. I didn't particularly like her, but I didn't hate her either. I was really just frustrated with her. She chose Draco Malfoy over her own twin brother and all of her friends. If it was up to me, if anyone went to Azkaban for Dumbledore's murder, she'd be one of them. She could have stopped it! She could have prevented it all from happening! She could have prevented his death, Bill getting attacked by Greyback just before his wedding, and I wouldn't have almost been killed either! If she had just told someone, if she would have told Dumbledore, he could have helped Malfoy out of the mess he got himself into and she and Malfoy could have lived happily ever after and it would have been fine! None of what happened would have happened. Then, on top of all that, she wouldn't be so oblivious and neither would Harry when it came to finding and destroying the other Horcruxes.

So yeah, I was angry with her. I didn't like her, and yeah, I placed a lot of blame on her. But that didn't mean I didn't want to help her. But it was going to be a hell of a lot more difficult without Dumbledore's help. But I was stuck with her now, and at some point, before we were going to leave after the wedding, I'd have to talk to her about it, without anyone else around to interrupt. I would have to get it all off my chest before I was out hunting Horcruxes with her.

"Roxanne," Hermione exclaimed as I heard the door unlock.

I sighed, "I hate that you can use magic whenever want, Hermy, I really do," I said as I held the newest edition of The Quibbler in front of my face. "You're lucky I'm decent, though, usually when people lock their doors it's because they want some privacy."

Hermione rolled her eyes, "Fleur is throwing a hissy fit about things, are you really just not going to acknowledge it?" she asked, "We could really use your help."

I sighed heavily, "Every time I try to help, Fleur insults my hair and my height. I'm not even that short!"

Hermione cocked her head to the side, "She's just on edge, it is her wedding."

"Well, I'm sorry that my hair clashes with those horrid pink-- I mean, blush dresses that she picked out for me, Ginny, and her sister," I retorted with a long sigh.

"Will you please just come and help the rest of us make the centerpieces?" she asked, "Fleur insists that we do it by hand so the imperfections are real, or something like that."

I looked at her for a moment before closing The Quibbler and dropping it down on my bed. "Yeah, I guess..."

Hermione smiled a bit as I got out of my bed and stepped around a cot that had been set up for somebody. The two of us made our way down the stairs. I was hoping that Fleur would hopefully be out doing something else for the wedding. But sadly, she was sitting at the kitchen table next to Lana. Across the table sat Jenna and Elle.

"Look who's decided to join us." Elle smiled, but there was an underlying tone of agitation.

I smirked a bit, "Miss me, everyone?"

"Of course we did," Lana said, a small smirk dancing onto her face.

As I opened my mouth to say something in return, something that probably would have come off as a bit rude or started a little bickering match, Hermione jabbed my arm as if to silence me. I glanced at her, but decided that she was probably right to stop me before I said anything. So I lowered myself into the seat next to Fleur at the head of the table, and then Hermione took her place next to her with Elle on the other side.

"So do all of them have to look like that?" I asked as I looked at a few of the center pieces on the other end of the table. They were mainly just green vines with purple and pink flowers scattered around in the vines. Then I knew a candle of sorts would be in the center, because Fleur had fussed about which candle she would use.

Fleur smiled and nodded, "Yes, aren't they beautiful?" she replied.

I nodded, "Yeah, they are." I shrugged and Fleur pushed supplies towards me. I began to mess around with the supplies and tried to mimic what the others were doing. The group of us sat there in silence, all of us, excluding Fleur, were probably ready to be done with it and wanted to burn the center pieces. The only thing that stopped me was the idea that Fleur would make them redo every single one.

After a while, we completed all the centerpieces to meet Fleur's high standards. As soon as she said they were done, we all left the kitchen as quickly as possible. I made my way outside and found Elle, Jenna, and Lana settling in a spot in the shade of the house.

"Mind if I join you?" I asked as I walked towards them.

"I thought you'd be hanging out with Josiah today," Jenna replied.

"He went with my dad to get Alexander, Lysander, and Sam," I replied as I lowered myself down to the grass next to Elle.

"Why are they coming here?" Elle asked.

I frowned, "They're helping move Harry and Maxine." I sighed and looked at the grass in front of me, picking at it to keep busy. "I wanted to go, but nobody will let me."

"Why not?" Elle asked.

"Mum doesn't want me to, Dad doesn't either, and neither of my brothers want me to go either." I shrugged, looking up at her. "I guess it was decided in some secret family meeting that me and Ginny couldn't help."

"You'd have plenty of people to protect you, all of your brothers, and your dad--"

"They're supposed to protect Harry and Maxine. Not me," I retorted quickly, "Besides, Lysander, Sam, Alex, and Josiah are going to help distract Death Eaters if there are any, and they're pretty good with spells, having me there wouldn't make much difference."

"Your mom wouldn't let us go either," Jenna replied. "We aren't old enough."

The four of us sat there in the shade for a bit longer, and as the sun began to set, different members of the Order began to arrive. Lupin and Tonks were two of the first ones to get there. Lupin asked me how Josiah was doing before he walked in. Josiah was practically his son, after he was bitten by Greyback, he lived with Lupin for the first few months while he got used to the transformations. Then Mad-Eye Moody arrived. I still couldn't believe that the real Mad-Eye hadn't been our teacher like he was supposed to be during our fourth year. With him he had Mundungus Fletcher, a creep that I saw almost every year in Diagon Alley trying to pawn off something. Then, not long after they arrived, Kingsley Shacklebolt appeared. I hadn't seen him at many Order meetings, but then again my mother didn't usually let me sit in on them.

"Who else do you think is coming?" I asked out loud. I didn't ask anyone directly, just the group in general.

"I think just Willson, Lestrange, Proctor, and Scotts," Lana replied.

But a few minutes later, the sound of a motorbike neared the Burrow. And not much longer after that, Hagrid's motorbike landed roughly in the driveway. His large figure made the bike look way too small for him.

"Hagrid!" Elle smiled as she pushed herself up from the ground and began to hurry towards him as he stopped. Jenna, Lana, and I quickly stood up and followed close behind her.

"I didn't know you were coming, too, Hagrid!" I smiled as we got to him.

"To tell yer the truth, I didn' know till jus' last week!" his voice boomed loudly, "Last time I was 'ere, I think I broke one of yer mum's kitchen chairs..." he muttered, looking down at me.

"Don't worry about it," I replied, "Those chairs were old, Muggle-made chairs that my dad picked up."

Hagrid chuckled, "Well, we should be gettin' inside, don' yer think? Don't want the meetin' startin' without us!" his voice boomed again as he clapped a hand on Elle's shoulder and his other hand on Lana's.

The group of us made our way up to the Burrow, which was even more packed than I could remember. So squeezing Hagrid into the living room was a bit of a problem. Most of the younger ones took places on the floor. Just as we all got situated, there was a loud cracking noise outside the door. And a moment later, the door opened.

"I told you she'd be an uptight bitch about it, Mr. Weasley." Sam's voice flowed into the Burrow and I could visibly see my mother roll her eyes. "She thinks that the Order is some sort of cult or something."

My father chuckled as the five of them flooded into the door. Sam, Alexander, and Lysander all had a small bag with them.

"Sorry we're late, everyone!" my father announced, "Mrs. Willson held a full interrogation before I could leave with the two of 'em. Then we had to get Alexander."

My mother sighed, "Well, boys, just put your bags by the steps and take a seat. We don't have all day."

George and I both snickered at the clear annoyance in our mother's voice. Whenever both Sam and Lysander were at the Burrow, it set her on edge almost as much as Fred and George making different prank supplies in their room.

The two of them quickly set down their bags and Lysander found a spot on the floor with his back against the couch, and Sam seated himself next to Lana on the floor, too and then Alexander seated himself next to me, while Josiah stood behind the couch. We all sat through the meeting, listening to Mad-Eye explain the plan for the move multiple times in different ways. Some of them would take a Polyjuice Potion to become one of the Potters and they would each be matched with an escort.

Fleur would be Maxine and Sam would be her escort. Hermione would become Maxine, with Kingsley as her escort. Then Elle would take the potion and have Josiah with her. Then finally, Tonks would be the last Maxine, besides the real one, and she would have Alexander as her escort. Lupin was clearly uneasy with the idea of having someone who just turned seventeen be Tonks' escort. But he wouldn't have been chosen unless he was good at flying and using spells.

For the Harrys, George would be one of them and he'd have Lupin with him. Then Fred would be the second one and he'd be with our dad. Ron would be Harry, too, with Bill as his escort. Then finally, Mundungus would be the final one with Mad-Eye as his escort.

The idea of having Sam, Josiah, Lysander, and Alexander all up in the sky protecting one of the Maxines made me uneasy. That would make them a target if they were caught by Death Eaters! If they were just up there, they'd be fine, but they'd have a Maxine with them!

"Roxanne, dear, could you help me get the last of the supplies for the centerpieces out? We should throw together a few extras," my mother said a few minutes after the meeting was let out. But I could feel my stomach churning as I felt more and more anxious. "You and Ginny will get that done real fast--"

"In a bit, Mum," I quickly said as I stood up to go outside where everyone was getting ready. Ginny followed me, too, and so did our mum. I looked around for them and then caught sight of Sam, Lysander, Josiah, and Alexander all talking. They didn't seem all that phased by what they were doing. "Aren't you four nervous?" I asked as I approached them.

They shook their heads, "We'll be fine," Lysander replied.

Alexander smirked a bit, "Yeah, nothing to worry about."

I sighed and looked at each of them for a moment. "Well, be careful. Don't fall off your brooms or anything." I sighed, chuckling a bit at the end to play it off as a joke.

Out of the four of them, Lysander looked the most worried after I told them to be careful. Which made sense, because he was stuck with the real Maxine Potter. He was in even more danger than the rest of them if Death Eaters found out who the real Maxine was. And on top of that, his aunt was Bellatrix Lestrange.

But that was all hypothetical, of course, there wouldn't be any Death Eaters. It was four days before their birthday, and Voldemort probably assumed Harry and Maxine wouldn't go anywhere until their birthday. Right?