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Harry answered a knock on the door, and behind it stood his godfather, and his two best friends.
“Hello, Harry,” Sirius said, a twinkle in his eye and a soft smile on his lips.
“Sirius.” Harry swept the man into a tight hug, then turned to do the same to Ron and Hermione.
“You’re looking more like your father every day.”
“Yeah, he’s absolutely gorgeous,” Mad-Eye sarcastically interjected. “Now, what say we get undercover before someone murders him?” He followed Sirius, Ron, and Hermione through the door, leading a train of others; one by one, they filed into the now unfurnished living room. Remus, Mr. Weasley, Bill, Kingsley, and Tonks--hair as pink as ever--settled next to Sirius in front of the curtained picture window, serving as surveillance. Fleur, Mundungus, and the twins took spots in the middle of the room with Ron and Hermione. Harry circulated, greeting each of them fondly, and being sure to give Remus and Sirius an extra hug.
“Clock’s ticking, you lot. We can all have a good catch-up later.” Mad-Eye dropped a large sack in front of the group. “Potter, you’re still underage, which means we have to travel using methods undetectable by the Trace.”
“What’s the Trace?”
“It’s like a tracking device for magical activity.” Hermione’s voice came from behind Harry. “The Ministry uses it to monitor all wizards under seventeen.”
“Exactly,” Mad-Eye continued. “So no Apparating. No Floo Network. No Portkeys. Brooms, thestrals, and other grounded transportation is our best chance. We go in pairs. Each Potter gets a protector.”
“Wait, what?” Harry glanced around the room, then back at Mad-Eye, who pulled a familiar flask out of his coat. “No. Absolutely not.”
Hermione crossed her arms. “Told you he’d take it well.”
“I’m not letting you all risk your lives for me--”
“Be serious, Harry,” Ron chimed in. “It’s not like you have a choice. Besides, it wouldn’t exactly be the first time, would it?”
“This is different, Ron, we’re not eleven anymore. The circumstances are--Ouch!” Harry winced and rubbed the back of his head after Hermione unceremoniously ripped out a few of his hairs. “Blimey,” He said bitterly.
“Everyone here is of age,” Hermione dropped the hair in Mad-Eye’s flask. “And they’ve all agreed to take the risk.”
“We don’t fancy the idea much, ourselves,” said Fred. “Imagine if we ended up looking like you for the rest of our lives.”
“Yeah, we’d be scrawny, specky gits forever.” George added. Harry sighed exasperatedly.
Mad-Eye swished the flask around before handing it to Fleur. “Other than a bad taste in your mouth, you’ll be fine.” The potion was passed around the group, each predetermined Potter taking a swig. Harry watched in wonder (and a little discomfort) as his friends transformed into six copies of himself. Mad-Eye turned the sack over, letting seven identical outfits fall out into a pile on the floor. “You all need to change--Harry, too--and don’t forget the glasses.”
“Mundungus, you’ll be riding with me. I want to keep an eye on you.” Mad-Eye’s left swiveled and swerved before focusing in on the Potter assumed to have once looked like Mundungus Fletcher. “As for the rest of you: Granger with Kingsley, Ron with Tonks, George with Remus. Bill will take Fleur, naturally, Fred will ride with his father, and Harry--the real one--you’ll be with Padfoot.”
Harry turned to Sirius, pulling his jacket on. “Really?” His eyes held affection for his godfather.
“I wasn’t there to protect you for the first thirteen years of your life.” Sirius stood with Remus’s arm around him. “I’m doing all I can to make up for that now.”
“Yes, how touching,” Mad-Eye grumbled impatiently. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
The seven Potters, followed by their seven protectors, filed outside into the street. Brooms hovered idle next to the skeletal horses, and at the end of them all stood a magnificent gray hippogriff.
“Buckbeak!” Harry began racing over to the creature, but stopped, and courteously bowed. Buckbeak tipped his head in response, allowing him to come closer and stroke his feathers.
“He missed you, you know.” Sirius came up behind Harry, not needing to bow.
“I missed him, too.”
The pairs took their positions upon the brooms and thestrals as Harry and Sirius climbed aboard Buckbeak, which was certainly easier than it had been when Harry was thirteen.
“Now,” said Mad-Eye, facing the group. “We’ve fed them a false trail, so they don’t know we’re moving you tonight. That being said, there’s no guarantee it’ll be a safe journey. He’s bound to have a few Death Eaters watching the skies.” He mounted his own broom, yelling back to the others. “We’ll rendezvous at the Burrow. Keep your eyes open. On the count of three! One!”
Harry settled onto Buckbeak with Sirius behind him.
“Two!”
He wrapped his arms around the hippogriff’s neck as securely as he could without hurting him. Sirius’s hands settled on Harry’s shoulders.
“Three!”
*****
Buckbeak landed with a stumble outside the Burrow, having lost some of his agility during the ambush. Harry and Sirius dismounted, reeling, as Ginny and Molly hurried to meet them.
“What happened?” Mrs. Weasley asked, and Harry noticed she was shaking. “Where are the others?”
“Are we the first ones here?”
Ginny nodded. “Ron and Tonks were supposed to arrive first. And Dad and Fred shouldn’t have been too far behind them.”
“We were ambushed, Molly.” Sirius’s voice was low, still cautious despite being under numerous protective enchantments. “Somehow they knew. We didn’t stand a chance.”
A shout came from behind them. The four turned to see Remus making his way through the garden, supporting a bloodied George. Harry ran over to help.
“We need to get him inside,” said Remus with heaving breaths. They staggered inside, the others following close behind, and laid George down on the sofa. After a few seconds to catch his breath, Remus shoved Harry against the nearest wall, his wand at Harry’s throat.
“Moony!”
Remus shot Sirius a cold glance, and when he looked back, Harry swore he saw fear in the old professor’s eyes.
“The first time Harry Potter visited my Hogwarts office, what creature sat in the corner?”
“What? I--”
“What creature?!”
Harry scrambled, searching for the answer. "A-a grindylow!"
Remus nodded, still breathing hard, still with fear in his eyes. He whipped around to point his wand at Sirius, who was already returning the gesture.
"Our first kiss," Sirius challenged.
"After your first quidditch game, seventh year. You kissed me in the astronomy tower after curfew. We were nearly caught by Filch on the way back."
They lowered their wands, then ran into an embrace, each relieved that the man in his arms belonged there. Sirius pressed his forehead to Remus's.
"Good enough," He whispered.
"What?" Remus whispered back.
"Technically, our first kiss was during that game of truth or dare, sixth year."
Remus rolled his eyes, tears forming in them. "Well, alright, if you want to be technical about it." He kissed Sirius like the world was ending, and, in a way, it was.
Remus turned back to Harry. "We’ve been betrayed. Voldemort knew you were being moved tonight. I'm sorry, I had to be sure it was you.”
Harry nodded in understanding. He gave Remus a hug, and one to Sirius for good measure. As the others arrived, Remus performed the same test on each of them, never letting go of Sirius once.