*NOTES* Thanks to all the reviews and everything. I should point out that this part of the story jumps a little between characters, though I think it transitions smoothly. I hope you all enjoy this next installment to this story. Thanks for reading and please I enjoy the feedback. Any questions you have can be placed in your reviews and I will try to answer them as quickly as possible in the next up coming chapter.
The Grangers had only been at the Burrow for a few hours, but in those few hours they had seen so much magic that it was mind-blowing. People popping in and out, birds squawking, food that is prepared by no one, and yet everyone seemed use to this. The only thing the Weasley family wasn't use to was their father coming home looking like he had witnessed a murder.
"Did they really? Are you sure, Remus?" He had walked in the door shaking and as white as a sheet. Carefully he sat down at the table as his daughter handed him a cup of tea. He took two sips of the tea and was suddenly as calm as a clam.
"It is laced with a calming drought," the girl, Ginny, explained to them as she handed them their tea. "Don't worry it does nothing but make you a little relaxed. Which with you being here I might need to make more." She said with a sad smile. "Don't worry I was joking. After a while you get use to the chaos of our house."
Just as she turned to leave them a pop was heard. Ginny immediately tensed and whipped out her wand, but quickly put it away when she saw it was Bill and Fleur, her oldest brother and newest sister-in-law. Seeing them standing there in the living room gave her the strength she needed to finally be allowed to break down.
Thankfully she wasn't the only one because Molly had long past reached the point of reasoning. The two ladies of the house were ushered upstairs. It was as all of this was happening that the Grangers realized the entire situation. Their daughter had put herself, intentionally, in harms way. She had gone off to fight something that was way above her skill. It was the only reasoning they could come up with because if the Weasleys were acting this way then this final mission had to be something incredibly dangerous.
"Why aren't you going after them?" Mrs. Granger demanded to know from one of the red heads in the room. They all turned to look at her with expressions on their faces like they had never seen anything like her ever.
"Fleur and I just tried and we can't get past the Hogwarts gates." Everyone turned to look at them as Bill continued on. "It seems that not only are the normal Hogwarts protection in place but also so new ones. I think Harry, Ron, and Hermione have increased and added their own."
Everyone started at this and the Grangers seemed lost in the mist of it all. They had no clue what was going on and no clue if their daughter was safe. Waiting, they decided, was going to be worse then the actual finding out.
All too soon it was time for dinner. Everyone gathered around the kitchen table. It seemed that the group had grown from when they arrived. Now it included Bill, Fleur, Charlie, a giant named Hagrid, and a very strict looking women named Minerva.
"Well I was determined to stay," the giant named Hagrid said. "Hogwarts is my home and always has been." Minerva nodded beside him, she looked distinctively ruffled. "But then all of the sudden I'm being thrown backwards through the gates. And I hear Ron's voice apologizing for the hit. I tried several times to go in after them but none of them worked. So I decided to stay as close as possible." Hagrid gave a shudder as he thought about how his friends might be facing Voldemort right now, and there was nothing he could do to help.
"I got a letter from Harry about two weeks ago informing me that the school was to be completely emptied during Easter break, no exceptions. I told him it would be done. Now I regret that. I should have stayed and helped." Her Scottish accent got even worse as her throat constricted with the tears she had been holding in.
"Minerva you did the right thing," an old and slightly tired voice said from the kitchen counter. All turned to look at the picture of Albus Dumbledore, the late Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Did you have to bring that along, Minerva?" Remus spoke up from his seat at the far end of the table. "No offense Albus, but it is kind of creepy."
"None taken my dear boy." The portrait said from its place.
"Now back to what we are going to do about this situation…" Minerva was pulling out her teacher card and using it to her full ability.
"We are going to do nothing," Remus spoke once again. "All we can do is sit and wait. Now if you excuse me I need some fresh air."
"Let him be Minerva," Albus spoke up and Remus nodded his head by way of the portrait as a thank you. "Remus is right there is nothing to do if they succeed then they succeed but if they don't…well when that comes we will decide."
"Remus was right, damn creepy." Minerva said under her breath just as the Grangers got up and followed Remus outside.
Remus did not like being cooped up for long periods of time. It reminded him too much of when he transformed into his wolf self. And thinking of that he had about a week before he did change, too. With a grin he reached down into his pack which he had gone to retrieve from Tonks' place, and pulled out a bottle of butterbeer.
"Do you think that there is any hope?" Mrs. Granger's voice floated over to him from the side. He turned to see her staring at Mrs. Weasley's garden with utter fascination and yet he could hear her bottom lip quivering. "I just need to know. We don't want to have false hope." Remus had already noticed Mr. Granger standing in the shadows cast by the house, but until now he made no mention of noticing him.
"Mr. and Mrs. Granger," He was quickly interrupted by Hermione's dad. "Fine, Edward and Jane, I trusted your daughter with my life several years ago and she didn't let me down then so I don't think that she is going to let me down now. Especially when I trust her with the last bit of connection I have left with my past."
"Harry is very dear to you, isn't he?"
"He is all I have left. Edward, Jane, Hermione is a smart girl. The smartest witch of her age." He let out the breath he had been holding. Telling parents that their child might die was not something he had signed up for, but then again losing your best friends was not something he counted of either.
"If she is so smart then why did she go?"
The Grangers had gone into the house several hours ago. Remus had stayed outside and watched the moon rise. He was slightly numb from all that had happened today, but he felt the hand that had been placed on his shoulder.
"I can't take the worries away but I can bring you this." A slightly perfumed scent met his nose and the voice which normal sounded like laughter was flat, still he knew who it was the moment the backdoor had opened. Tonks handed him a cup of hot chocolate. "Don't worry I didn't lace it with anything except extra chocolate. So who are we looking for tonight?" Casually she flopped down on the ground beside him and curled up into his embrace.
"Sirius," she laughed at this and rested her head on his shoulder. "Tonks, I think that…" She cut him off with a soft kiss. "Don't Remus because if you do then you'll never stop. Let's just look for Sirius."
"Hey your hair it's different." He looked at the soft black curly hair that she sported. This was a new look for her and one he hoped to see more often because he liked it, a lot.
"You like," even in the dark of night he could tell she was blushing. "It is my natural form." They stayed out until Molly could be heard rummaging in the kitchen. All night they sat under a blanket of stars looking for Sirius, long after they had found him. Neither was quite ready to face their dreams or even the new day but as dawn broke over the dark they welcomed it. Day one was over and onward to day two.
"Molly please let me help," Tonks pleaded to the matronly women. Somehow between supper last night and breakfast she had pulled herself together.
"No Tonks go and sit down. I have some major cooking to do. Now where is that pot?" Molly started waving her wand about and pots and pans appeared out of the thin air. "I have to cook breakfast and then I'm going to make Ron's favorites. Harry's too. Oh and Hermione's, I wonder what she likes best? Better ask her parents. We can't have them coming home to nothing, now can we."
"Oh Molly," Tonks's hand found it way down from where it was perched in front of her mouth, and she tried to blink the tears from her eyes so the older women wouldn't see them. She quickly pulled Molly into a hug. "Well we have some cooking to do, now don't we?" Jane Granger's voice came bearing down on them and both women turned to look at each other.
Almost everyone had been given breakfast when Molly noticed her daughter hadn't come down. "Fred go and get your sister," She asked the first of her boys she had seen. "She is not allowed to starve herself and she knows that."
George, he didn't have the heart to tell his mother he wasn't Fred, troop up the stairs to fetch his sister. Quickly he knocked on the door to Ginny's room and found it to be open. "Gin," he said as he pushed the door open. He found his sister asleep on her bed surrounded by pictures.
George picked up a handful of them and started flipping through them. The first one was of Ron and Ginny as little kids. He guessed around five and four. The next one was of Harry and Hermione; it was taken right after the first task in their fourth year. Then a picture from her fifth year at the Gryffindor party after the Quidditch matches against some opposing team. She was on Harry's arm so maybe the one where they had gotten together. And the last picture was of the whole Weasley family (Harry and Hermione included) at Bill's wedding.
For the first time he noticed that Ron, Harry, and Hermione stood a little bit apart from the rest of the group. It was like they took up another picture all together. Hermione stood in the middle of the boys. Her hair was done in soft curls and she wore light pink dress robes. Harry stood on her right with his arm around her waist; he was wearing midnight blue robes. And Ron, Ron was on the left wearing black robes. They were laughing at something Ron had mumbled and just looked genuinely happy.
"Fred," Ginny's voice whispered from her bed.
"What did I take a freckle inducing potion? Because I'm George."
"Sorry George." She said right before she yawned. "I see you found my pictures."
"Yes, Ginny they are going to come back." George was not only trying to convince his little sister but also himself.
"It's just that…George if they don't I'll lose a brother, a best friend, and a sort of boyfriend." She was trying not to cry, trying so hard, and yet George could tell that something else was beneath that statement. "Why her? Why did he let Hermione go with them and not me? I could have helped." George didn't know what to say so instead he scooped his baby sister up into a hug and did the only thing he knew what to do; he told her jokes until she laughed.
In fact that is what the Weasley twins did all day long, they told jokes. The only people they couldn't make laugh was the three women in the kitchen, cooking. And it wasn't for the lack of trying but each time they stepped foot in the kitchen they were expelled out of there.
"So Hermione's favorite meal is what?" Tonks said as she stirred something that looked like beef stew. Was it supposed to be stirred, Tonks wondered as she put the lid back on the pot quickly.
"Well it is chicken lightly bread with cheese sprinkled over it and spaghetti on the side." Mrs. Granger informed the two ladies.
"Wow that sounds yummy." Tonks was amazed at it all. Molly wasn't being honest when she said lets get cooking because Ron liked way too many things. So far they had only made a tiny dent in the list, and that dent was the beef stew.
"We have a problem," Molly said as she waved her wand at some knives and sent them to chop up some carrots. "The only person who knows what Harry's favorite meal is went with him to kill you-know-who."
"Well he might have told Ginny or even the twins. Hermione can't be the only one who knows this stupid answer." Tonks let out a sigh. "Oh, what about Remus?" Tonks went to go find Remus as Jane realized something.
"Are they really that close? I mean I knew they were close, she always talked about Harry and Ron during the summers, but still…" Molly noticed Jane's hands were shaking as they dropped the chicken into the breadcrumbs. "Molly she might not come back. My baby girl…"
Molly pulled Jane into a hug, "I know how hard and painful this is. But for you it must be even worst. You have no clue some of the horrors our world holds. Sit down for a second and let me tell you a something. Those three have seen and done so much. In their first year they not only faced a mountain troll but they also defeated a complicated set of trials to get to Voldemort to stop him from stealing the philosopher's tone. Second year they faced a basilisk and in their third they faced a hundred dementors, Sirius Black, and a werewolf. So if they did that in just three years imagine what they can do now."
"Sorry to interrupt." Remus had entered the kitchen with Tonks at the end of Molly's speech. "I don't know Harry's favorite food but I do know someone who can help. Dobby!" With a yell and a crack, Dobby the house elf appeared in the Weasley kitchen.
"Harry's wolfy, called for Dobby." Remus explained the situation and Dobby suddenly brightened. "Miss, always use to make Harry chicken noodle soup whenever he was upset. She said it always cheered him up." They all knew the house elf was talking about Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley smiled at Dobby.
Once Remus heard what Dobby had to say he left the kitchen and went back into the living room. Tonks had interrupted him as he was telling a story about the Marauders to the twins and Arthur. Quickly they bombarded him with more questions on the past. He noticed that Ginny was sitting in the corner putting together a scrapbook of some sort. Minerva and Edward where at the chess board playing a game while discussing the issue of science viruses magic. And Hagrid was whittling something while he sat awaiting the end to Remus's tale.
"Okay where was I…"Remus sat down on the couch as the twins updated him on where he was. "Oh, right James and Sirius had just come up with the brilliant plan of pranking the Slytherin common room." Remus glanced at Minerva quickly to make sure she wasn't listening. He wasn't afraid of getting detention anymore, but she could still make him quiver with fear. It was then that he noticed the clock on the mantel.
Abandoning the story all together he walked over to the clock. He gazed at it for so long he could barely believe what he was seeing. There was the whole Weasley family, minus Ron, with their hands pointing at home. Ron, Harry, and Hermione's he quickly noticed were still pointing at mortal peril. Something had happened, something good, but still did mortal peril mean they were dead or alive?
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