Harry ran upstairs to his bedroom, arriving at the window just in time to see the Dursleys' car swinging out of the drive and off up the road. Dedalus's top hat was visible between Aunt Petunia and Dudley in the backseat. The car turned right at the end of Privet Drive, its windows burned scarlet for a moment in the now-setting sun, and then it was gone.
Harry picked up Hedwig's cage, his Firebolt, and his rucksack, gave his unnaturally tidy bedroom one last sweeping look, and then made his ungainly way back downstairs to the hall, where he deposited his cage, broomstick, and bag near the foot of the stairs. The light was fading rapidly now, the hall full of shadows in the evening light. It felt most strange to stand here in the silence and know that he was about to leave the house for the last time. Long ago, when he had been left alone while the Dursleys went out to enjoy themselves, the hours of solitude had been a rare treat. Pausing only to sneak something tasty from the fridge, he had rushed upstairs to play on Dudley's computer, or put on the television and flicked through the channels to his heart's content. It gave him an odd, empty feeling to remember those times, it was like remembering a younger brother whom he had lost.
"Don't you want to take a last look at the place?" he asked Hedwig, who was still sulking with her head under her wing. "We'll never be here again. Don't you want to remember all the good times? I mean, look at this doormat. What memories...Dudley puked on it after I saved him from the dementors...Turns out he was grateful after all, can you believe it...And last summer, Dumbledore walked through that front door..."
Harry lost the thread of his thoughts for a moment and Hedwig did nothing to help him retrieve it, but continued to sit with her head under her wing. Harry turned his back on the front door.
"And under here, Hedwig." Harry pulled open a door under the stairs. "Is where I used to sleep! You never knew me then. Blimey, it's small, I'd forgotten..."
Harry looked around at the stacked shoes and umbrellas, remembering how he used to wake every morning looking up at the underside of the staircase, which was more often than not adorned with a spider or two. Those had been the days before he had known anything about his true identity, before he had found out how his parents had died or why such strange things often happened around him. But Harry could still remember the dreams that had dogged him, even in those days, confused dreams involving flashes of green light and once Uncle Vernon had nearly crashed the car when Harry had recounted one about a flying motorbike...
There was a sudden, deafening roar from somewhere nearby. Harry straightened up with a jerk and smacked the top of his head on the low door frame. Pausing only to employ a few of Uncle Vernon's choicest swear words, he staggered back into the kitchen, clutching his head and staring out of the window into the back garden.
The darkness seemed to be rippling, the air itself quivering. Then, one by one, figures began to pop into sight as their Disillusionment Charms lifted. Dominating the scene was Hagrid, wearing a helmet and goggles and sitting astride an enormous motorbike with a black sidecar attached. All around him other people were dismounting from brooms and, in two cases, skeletal, black winged horses.
Y/n stood with everyone as they saw Harry open the back door and hurry out. There was a general cry of greeting as Hermione flung her arms around him, Y/n and Ron both clapped him on the back, and Hagrid said, "All righ', Harry? Ready fer the off?"
"Definitely." said Harry, beaming around at them all. "But I wasn't expecting this many of you!"
"Change of plan." growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous, bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from darkening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity. "Let's get undercover before we talk you through it."
Harry led them all back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt Petunia's gleaming work surfaces, or leaned up against her spotless appliances. Ron, long and lanky, Y/n dressed in casual muggle clothes, Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait, 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.
"Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?" Harry called across the room.
"He can get along without me for one night." said Kingsley. "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, showing him the ring that glittered there.
"You got married?" Harry yelped, looking from her to Lupin.
"I'm sorry you couldn't be there, Harry, it was very quiet." Lupin said.
"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 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."
"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."
Harry could not help but agree with the unknown Thicknesse. "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."
Harry could see flaws in this plan, however, he held his tongue to give Mad-Eye the chance to address them.
"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. "Fifteen of us fly off toward Tonks's parents?"
"Ah." said Moody, "I forgot to mention the key point. Fifteen of us won't be flying to Tonks'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."
From inside his cloak Moody now withdrew a flask of what looked like mud. There was no need for him to say another word, Harry understood the rest of the plan immediately.
"No!" he said loudly, his voice ringing through the kitchen. "No way!"
"I told them you'd take it like this." said Hermione with a hint of complacency.
"There was never a doubt." Y/n said from beside her.
"If you think I'm going to let six people risk their lives!" Harry began.
"...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."
"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 Y/n and Hermione's eyes 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.
"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 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 Y/n's raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and saying, "Oh, you know what I mean... their potions looked like bogies."
"Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please." said Moody.
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur lined up in front of Aunt Petunia's gleaming sink.
"We're one short." said Lupin.
Harry was expecting Y/n to move but he didn't.
"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 Eaters we 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."
Mundungus did not look particularly reassured, but Moody was already pulling half a dozen eggcup-sized glasses from inside his cloak, which he handed out, before pouring a little Polyjuice Potion into each one.
"Why are you not taking the potion Y/n?" Harry asked him.
"The order believes I will be more proficient as a protector than a decoy." Y/n said. "This will also allow me to stay with Hermione and protect her alongside her other guard. There is also the chance Atticus will take part in any potential ambush and he is certain to recognize me from my broom."
"So you're going with Hermione?" Harry asked.
"Of course I am. It is not even a question." Y/n said.
"If you're done with the chit chat we're on a schedule." Moody said passing out the egg cups. "Altogether, then..."
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.
Y/n would not say it out loud but seeing his girlfriend transform into one of his male best friends was slightly unsettling.
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."
"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.
"With no disrespect intended Harry...I am contemplating obliviating this from my mind once we are safe." Y/n said having to turn away from them all.
"I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo." He heard Ron say.
"Harry, your eyesight really is awful." said Hermione, as she put on glasses.
Once dressed, Y/n turned back around and 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 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 but Y/n could not help but let out a small smile. He had been reminded of the first time he had seen the twins all those years ago using the same joke on their mother. "The other one George or Fred or whoever you are..." Moody continued. "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 you'll be with Kingsley, again by Thestral and Y/n will ride alongside on broom."
Y/n moved to stand next to the Harry that had just looked reassured that they would be riding Thestral.
Y/n knew that Hermione lacked confidence on a broomstick and if Atticus spotted them he would undoubtedly give chase to Y/n. It would be safer for them all as Y/n planned to split away from them drawing Atticus with him should the need arise, something he had not told the others.
"Which leaves you and me, Ron!" said Tonks brightly, knocking over a mug tree as she waved at him.
Ron did not look quite as pleased as Hermione.
"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 he's never 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..."
Harry hurried into the hall to fetch his things as the others moved to the back garden.
Y/n and Hermione disguised as Harry moved to stand by a Thestral that Kingsley had pointed out to them.
"Where are we getting our Portkey from?" Y/n asked.
"We'll be flying to my home. So you'd better stick close if you don't want to get lost." Kingsley said.
Y/n just nodded a little before he turned his attention to the disguised Hermione.
"You had better stay safe." He said quietly and Kingsley turned his attention away to give them a moment of privacy.
"You better do too." Hermione said.
"I love you Hermione but I think I will wait till you change back to kiss you..." Y/n said hoping to alleviate some of the tension.
Hermione just hit his arm however and they settled for a hug.
Harry joined the others in the dark back garden now. On every side broomsticks were leaping into hands, Kingsley had just climbed on a Thestal as Hermione was being helped up onto it by Y/n, Fleur onto the other by Bill. Hagrid was standing ready beside the motorbike, goggles on.
"Is this it? Is this Sirius's bike?" Harry asked.
"The very same." said Hagrid, beaming down at Harry. "An' the last time yeh was on it, Harry, I could fit yeh in one hand!"
Y/n smiled overhearing this and he held out his hand as his Nimbus 2000 shot into it.
"All right then." said Moody. "Everyone ready, please, I want us all to leave at exactly the same time or the whole point of the diversion's lost."
Everybody mounted their brooms.
"Hold tight now, Ron." said Tonks, and Y/n saw Ron throw a furtive, guilty look at Lupin before placing his hands on either side of her waist. Hagrid kicked the motorbike into life, It roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to vibrate.
"Good luck, everyone," shouted Moody. "See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One...two...THREE."
Y/n kicked off from the ground now staying level with the Thestral Hermione and Kingsley were upon. All around him brooms were rising with Sirius's motorbike just below them. Higher and higher they climbed into the sky...
And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded! At least thirty hooded figures, suspended in midair, formed a vast circle in the midst of which the Order members had risen, oblivious.
Screams cried out as blazes of green light flew by on every side. Y/n had quickly drawn his wand as he fired a few spells back.
"It is an ambush scatter!" Moody cried and quickly the fifteen of them split off in all different directions. Y/n sped off on his broom, keeping to the side of Hermione and Kingsley's Thestral.
"Harry take control of the Thestral and keep them heading north." Kingsley told Hermione as he drew his own wand now and turned to look behind them. "We have company!" Kingsley called out and Y/n turned his head to see a familiar face amongst a group of Death Eaters that were giving the chase.
"It is Atticus!" Y/n called to the two. "Keep going I will get his attention."
Y/n pulled his broom to the side now as he started to split off from the two.
"Y/n!" Hermione angrily shouted at him.
"Follow them! The Dark Lord has promised me Y/n is mine alone!" Y/n could hear Atticus shout to his fellow Death Eaters.
Y/n just sped off now leaving Hermione and Kingsley knowing Atticus would follow him. Hermione was still angrily shouting his name, but it quickly grew quieter with the distance but that didn't matter right now, he would suffer her wrath later. All that mattered was her safety and he trusted in Kingsley's ability to look after her. As he looked back he could no longer see Hermione or Kingsley in the darkness but Atticus's dyed blonde hair was close.
Y/n moved his body close to his broom as he tried to make it as streamlined as possible. His Nimbus was outdated compared to Atticus's own broom but he would try to draw him as far away as possible.
A jet of green light flew just past his ear and Y/n quickly looked to see Atticus was indeed gaining upon him. An idea quickly formed in Y/n's head and he aimed his wand carefully.
"Impedimenta!" Y/n cast connecting the spell with Atticus's broom which immediately began to slow down.
Atticus realising Y/n was going to get away snarled and drew back his wand. "Avada Kedavra!" He cast and a jet of green light erupted from his wand.
Y/n had to quickly use his broom to block the spell from hitting him, but this act caused his broom to completely shatter under the spell's power and he began to plummet through the sky. Atticus whose broom was still under the slowing jinx effect could do nothing but watch.
Y/n could feel the wind rushing against his face as his eyes began to water up. The Slowing jinx he had placed on Atticus's broom would surely not last any longer and he was too high to use the spell Dumbledore had used on Harry when the dementors had attacked all those years ago.
There was only one thing could think to do. He would have to try apparating. But he could not arrive at Kingsley's for he had never been there, nor had he been to the home of any of the other order members. Except one. But Y/n could not get there directly, he would have to arrive a good distance away. Having no other options, Y/n closed his eyes and waved his wand 'Arresto Momentum...' He thought as he could feel himself slowing down in the air and then he thought of where he wanted to go.
Y/n felt his body slam hard into the ground as all the air in his lungs was forced out it. Despite the use of Arresto Momentum to slow himself down he was left dazed and winded as he lay on the ground for a moment tired but triumphant. It took him a short while to get his breath back and soon he pushed himself up. In his left hand he felt something peculiar and he opened it to see he was still holding a small piece of broomstick handle with the 'Nimbus 2000' logo upon it. A small reminder of how lucky he was he thought and put it in his pocket.
He started to look around at his surroundings and despite the darkness he vaguely recognised where he had apparated to. It was the trail he had walked with everyone several years ago to get to the Quidditch World Cup. Figuring it would be best to move in disguise if he was now to travel alone, he transfigured himself to look like an old muggle man he had seen walking with Hermione and her mother in a London high street two years ago.
With nothing else to wait for now, he began to make the long walk towards the burrow... hoping Hermione and the others would arrive safely.