*NOTE* Okay hi to everyone. The sixth book really put me off my other story and so my lovely friend told me to write another one. She said it will help me get out of my funk. So write I am, but don't think I am giving up my other story. I figured this is going to be about fifteen to seventeen chapters long. I even have a timeline of events and everything. Wow to me. So I hope you enjoy the first chapter.
Remus Lupin entered the order's headquarters, or that is what it use to be. Now it was the home of three teenagers who were planning to take down the most evil wizard of this century. Ron Weasley was the sixth son of Molly and Arthur Weasley. To say they were even a tad bit happy about his choice in not going back to school was a lie. Hermione Granger had told her parents everything in the span of ten minutes, and when he meant everything he meant everything. She explained the war, school, and her choice, and then she apparated here to meet her two best friends; her parents didn't get a choice edgewise. Harry Potter didn't really have a choice in telling his parents because they were ripped away from him when he was just barely one by the same evil he was chasing right now.
Remus pondered the three teenagers as he opened the door to Grimmauld place. He expected to hear the usually arguing of Ron and Hermione or the clashing of spells as Hermione prepared her boys for battle or even the pages of books turning as three voices mumbled about their next plan of action, but instead he was greeted with silence. Silence was never a good sign in this house for it meant that the three teenagers had gone out in search of another thing to help fight Voldemort, that evil wizard they were thinking about killing.
Quickly and most possibly as noisy as this house a heard in a day or so he made his way to the kitchen in the basement. For a second he thought about shouting their names but knew it would be fruitless as soon as he scanned the kitchen table. On it was two owls, a phoenix, one half kneezle cat, and a house elf. They were huddled close together in what could have been conference but Remus just shook that thought out of his head. As soon as the creatures spotted him several things happened at once, Fawkes, the phoenix, erupted in flames and disappeared, Dobby, the house elf, started rushing around the kitchen making tea, and the two owls gave hoots of indignant.
"Dobby!" Remus shouted at the house elf causing him to drop the kettle he had been holding. "It wasn't just another mission, was it?" When the elf didn't speak he gave it a hard shake. This seemed to jar him for a second, just long enough for him to shake his head. Remus knew if the elf wouldn't speak it was because he had been sworn to silence by Harry, Ron, or Hermione.
Remus sunk into one of the stools that sat beside the kitchen table. He literally felt all the energy being drained from him. No one truly knew what the three teenagers had been doing, but they all knew it had something to do with the war against Voldemort. It was amazing how secretive they had become, and amazingly that trait had been passed on to their pets. Hedwig, Harry's owl, had snapped at him when he reached out to pet her. Even though she snapped at him she bent over to pick something up that lay at her feet.
One envelope stuffed full, from the looks of it. Remus held out his hand and watched as it fell from Hedwig's beak into his hand. It felt as heavy as it looked, he thought with a sour grin, no doubt magically enhanced by Hermione.
He poured out the contents of the envelope and stared at how much was crammed into it. Doing a quick scan he saw twelve envelopes, each address to different people from Ron, Harry, and Hermione, and one lone letter addressed to him. The only way he noticed it was by the fact it was the only thing that didn't come in an envelope.
Carefully he studied it and he laughed as he noticed the seal it bared. The wax seal was so carefully placed in the center and it bore a book, the knight from chess set, and a snitch. The three teenagers had made their own coat of arms. Each piece was at the corner of the triangle that encompassed them. Remus didn't want to break the seal as it was so perfect and he carefully lifted it up from the paper and set it aside.
Dear Remus,
As soon as he saw Hermione's neat handwriting he felt tears prick at his eyes.
It is three o'clock in the morning and I'm slightly drunk. As you read this piece of crap you will come to the realization that we have left Grimmauld place. Shocking, I know, but it has come down to the last bit of sand in the hour glass. Do you even know what an hour glass is? Anyway, Ron was the one who told me to address this to you. You see I have gotten permission from my two passed out boys to write this letter to you. In it you will find an explanation for everything we have done this year so far. So you might want to sit down while you are reading this, and there is a bottle of firewhiskey in the fridge if you need it.
It started last year when Dumbledore started giving Harry those lessons. He explained to Harry Voldemort's past. In all actuality I kind of feel for the murdering bastard, he had a tough life I guess not knowing your parents made it even worse. Voldemort, aka Tom Riddle, didn't want to be like his weak father and mother.
Anyway as I was saying Dumbledore gave these lessons to Harry and Slughorn gave a memory. And what a memory it was? Slughorn had tampered with it, he made it so that it was what he wanted it to reflect and not what it really was. In this memory he told Voldemort about Horcruxes. Now if you don't know what they are then I'm going to give you a little bit of background. Horcruxes are objects you use to conceal part of your soul. To do this you have to split your soul apart and the only way to do that is to commit murder. Voldemort did this seven times, and we have collected all six souls, one still resides in his body, so now all we have to do is kill him and he can finally die.
Or in other words we can finally kill him. Now that you know about Voldemort's souls you need to know why we are doing this. We, Harry, Ron, and I, are doing this so Harry can live. There was a prophecy, which you no doubt have heard about, and it said that neither Harry nor Voldemort could survive while the other does.
Sometimes it hurts so much to think about Harry dying, Remus, that I feel like I can't breath. He has been such a big part of my life for so long, for too long. God he is my best friend for crying out loud. It all started seven years ago. I entered a compartment looking for a toad, and found two boys sitting there so encompassed in the magic of it all that I couldn't resist just being in awe of them. I ended up fixing one boy's glasses and totally slamming the other. To this day Harry still lets me fix his glasses, and Ron and I still nag each other like no tomorrow, but what if there isn't a tomorrow? I can't start thinking about what ifs, not now. Because then I will start thinking what if Harry never let Peter Pettigrew go? And then all the ifs will start pouring down on me and I have to be strong, I have to.
This year has been a complete disaster to what I thought it would have been like. I was to be head girl, well actually I did make Head Girl I just turned it down when I decided not to go back to school, and Harry and Ron were suppose to be there by my side laughing and kidding the whole way through the year. Instead we started this year off by going to Godrics Hollow. We saw Harry's house. I didn't tell him this, but on our second day there I followed him to his parent's graves. I don't know what I expected, a monument of some type, but they were utterly simplistic. Harry told his parents all about Ron and I, Hogwarts, and Sirius. He still, slightly, blames himself for everything that happens. Finally when he broke down was when I left knowing that everything might not be okay but he was ready to face whatever he was given.
Tonight has been a strange night. I spent half of it getting drunk with Harry and Ron after we had finally destroyed the last Horcrux; it was the easiest to find but hardest to kill. It was Nagini, Voldemort's snake, the one who attacked Mr. Weasley. First we had to get her away from her master. They used me as bait. I was completely terrified, but I knew Harry wouldn't let me die. I was the one who started the drinking binge as afterwards my nerves were completely frayed. All I could remember thinking during the whole trip was, "what if I don't graduate?" Can you believe that? If I'm thinking that when I'm bait for a huge snake then what am I going to be thinking when I get to help face the bastard called Voldemort. Did I mention I'm still drunk? I'm pretty good at clear thinking when I am too. Kind of wicked, huh?
Around the third or fourth shot we all got pretty giggly but Harry suddenly turned serious. He said in two days time we would be leaving to go to Hogwarts. Harry said he had already informed McGonagall to send everyone home, including the staff. He doesn't want anyone caught in the crossfire. We all knew it would end there but it suddenly seemed to have a sobering effect on us. We decided to write four letters each. Those letters you poured out of the big envelope go to four different people from each of us. We don't know what the other has written and nor will we know until we return, if we do. Anyway I have charmed then to open only when you have gathered everyone at the Burrow on Saturday. We figured by then if we aren't there then we are dead. Nice thought I know, but what the heck I can barely think straight right now.
Remus I am beginning to dread more nights like these. I know the journey to get to this point has been tough but it isn't going to be easy getting back from it either. We have scars and nightmares, and some nights we all just sit around the kitchen table waiting for the dawn. I know that if we survive it is going to hard to adjust to life again. It is going to hard to stop looking over our shoulders looking for something evil to jump out at us. One night, last week, I was wide awake and decided to make some tea to find I wasn't the only one awake. Harry was already sitting at the kitchen table. We started talking about our years at Hogwarts, about anything but this stupid war, but eventually it turned to that topic. It has dictated our lives for so long; do we even know how to live without it?
So, Remus, in closing I leave you with this knowledge, that we love you. All of us. And hopefully your worrying will have been in vain, but remember that we started this journey together so we damn well are going to finish it together.
Hermione
(And her two drunken boys)
Remus scanned the back of the third page wanting more. He looked for any other sign of writing, but found none. Quickly as he could he scrambled to the sink and dry heaved. First countless of people in the Order had been killed, and then Lily and James, Sirius, Dumbledore, and other names and face swam into view. Now there was the huge possibility that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were going to die. Of course there had always been the possibility that Harry was going to die fighting Voldemort but now he was going to have to face losing all three. He thought Harry would have made them stay, but now he knew Harry needed his friends more then anything else in this world. He needed them to survive if only for a little while during the battle. Despair had sunk in as Remus had these thoughts.
"And of course I have to be the one to tell Molly." His voice was strained as he spoke. He knew that telling Molly would be nothing to giving the letters on Saturday. Harry trusted him with one last thing and he would not fail his last request even if it meant dealing with a hysterical Molly.
Quickly he made up his mind, snatched the twelve letters, and started his way out of the house. But before he reached the door a voice called him back. "Harry's wolfy, stop!" Dobby obviously had something to tell him. "These were also left for you." Dobby put three objects at his feet and with a sob apparated out of the entrance way.
Three bottles lay at his feet. They were tiny and on closer inspection they were filled with a silvery substance. Remus carefully picked one up and let out a laugh as he read the inscription on the bottle, "Ron's memories." They really did think of just about everything, Remus thought as he quietly closed the door to Grimmauld place.
A crack was heard on a normal muggle street. One lone wizard stood looking at a normal muggle house. He remembered the first time he had been there and how frighten the teenage girl was to see him. Of course the Order had picked a bad time to show up as she was the only one in the house and she had just gotten out of the shower. Thankfully she didn't fire any hexes off at them because she being the smartest witch of her age probably knew quite a few. Now he stared at the Granger's house wishing that he was bringing the occupants anything but bad news.
Quickly he was led into the living room, by Mr. Granger. He studied the muggle photos for a couple of minutes, Remus was waiting for something. And then there she came into the living room, the spitting image of Hermione. He felt tears weld in his eyes once again, "Tonks please morph out of that form." Nymphadora Tonks was the witch assigned to watch over the Grangers, and she did this beautifully as she was a metamorphmagus. She shifted out of the form of a girl with slightly bushy hair, golden eyes, around 5 foot six and into a women with a long body (much like the form she was just in), a heart shaped face, and bubblegum pink hair.
"Watcher dear." She said by way of greeting her boyfriend. Casually she took a seat on the sofa by Mrs. Granger and it was only then that she noticed that Remus seemed to be on edge. "It's them, isn't it?' Four simple words seemed to have a collision effect in the small living room. Immediately the Grangers tensed up and Remus seemed to deflate.
"Hermione," He turned to address Hermione's parents. "I'm sure has filled you in on some of the goings of our world, and Tonks has probably helped a great deal more. Well I arrived at Grimmauld place over two hours ago to check on the teenagers and found the house devoid of them. It could only mean one thing…"
"They went on yet another mission." Mrs. Granger interrupted him. She seemed desperate to hear that this was true, that this was the only thing that he had discovered.
"I'm sorry to have to inform you of this but they went on their final mission. They left for Hogwarts, apparently, four days ago. She left you a letter which can only be read two days from now, if you don't count today, at the Burrow." Quickly he shared a look with Tonks and instantly made a decision. "It is best if you come to the Burrow now. We have no way of knowing what is going to happen, and the Burrow is a much safer place then the muggle world."
Remus let this all sink in for he could tell that they were only taking in half of what he said. It is harder to comprehend things when you are crying or mumbling.
"Do you think…I mean she isn't going to…" Mr. Granger spoke up.
"I'm positive that they wouldn't have gone if they weren't prepared. Hermione did write this letter explaining some stuff. You are more then welcome to read it." He held out the letter with a shaky hand. Quickly it was snatched from him as the two parents scanned it.
"Firewhiskey? Horcruxes? Memories? Now I know there is a lot Hermione didn't tell us but this is way more than I expected."
"It is way more than I expected too, Mr. Granger. To be honest I expected a half ass response about life and then telling us not to worry. But she was a little bit off her rocker."
"Yes about that," Mr. Granger never finished his sentence because Tonks finally got what he meant by firewhiskey and started to laugh.
"You mean that they…and oh my god…the twins…" she let escape in-between giggles. Remus shot her a dark look and looked up at Hermione's parents, "you really should get packing. We will leave in thirty minutes."
Four bodies and two suitcases slammed to the ground right outside the Burrow. Molly Weasley rushed out her house, wand raised, to see what the noise had been made by. Two of her sons were right beside her, the Weasley twins had seen their fare share of this war, in fact their whole family had, but they still weren't going to let their mother rush into the unknown. At least not without them right beside her. Fred and George had just months before saved their mother's life as she had recklessly gone after a death eater that had hurt a muggle child in the near by town. If there was one thing Molly couldn't stand it was the hurting of a child and the twins couldn't stand the hurting of their mother.
"Oh look George isn't this a strange combination of people. One werewolf, a metamorphmagus, and two muggles, and they all landed on our front yard. Fred said pointing at the group who was in tangles on the ground. "This would make an excellent joke." George though had stopped short seeing the sight. His brother and twin hadn't seem to recognize what this sight meant but he did, it meant that his youngest brother had gone and done something incredibly stupid and brave, once again.
"When?" George went to help Remus up and he posed the question.
"Four days ago, as far as I can tell." Remus held up Hermione's letter and handed it to the boy. "Oh and by the way you gave them firewhiskey?" George didn't take the letter or even hear the question Remus had asked him; instead he rushed over to his mother. Thankfully his reflexes were quick because he got to her just as she started to sink to the ground.
"Ginny, Fred, go and floo dad and make some tea for mum." He snapped at his brother and sister who had quickly joined the fray outside. Remus quickly looked away, but unfortunately for the werewolf his hearing was above excellent and he heard Molly's sobbing and her words clearly.
What no one did hear or notice was the Weasley's clock. All the sudden the hand began to move to different directions, even though they had been stuck for over a year now on mortal peril. Some moved to home and others to work, but three, three stayed at mortal peril. Ron, Hermione, and Harry's hands were stuck there, possibly forevermore.
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