Harriet Potter

Ron grabbed Kingsley by the collar, which he couldn't have done unless the latter wasn't trying to dodge.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed.

"How did this happen?!" Ron snarled.

"The Burrow was already empty when I arrived with my men," Kingsley said. "After Tonks and little Teddy are settled, Remus will come later. He was there."

"Why aren't you here?" Ron demanded, "You should have protected them!"

"Calm down, Ron," said Bill, as he limped down the stairs, his robe and hair still wet.

"The mysterious man just took our parents, Fred and George!"

"How's Fleur?" Hermione asked.

"Still in a coma. I've just attached her ribs and put her on a growth hormone and she'll be all right," Bill said, putting a hand on Ron's shoulder, "yelling at mates for help. To them, Ron. Kingsley has done his best."

Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist and softly dissuaded him, and finally Ron let go of Kingsley, threw her and Bill down on the sofa, and covered his face.

……

"How did it happen, Remus?" Hermione asked.

"It was about eight o'clock in the evening, and they broke the Burrow's protective spell, very fast. They had put an anti-apparation spell around the Burrow before then. The sentinel sent a message, but they were unable to win How much time." Remus whispered, "Arthur and Molly called Fred, George and I to escort Dora and Teddy away, they stayed to meet the enemy, but there was also an ambush by the back door. George and Fred After being knocked down one after another, Dora and I fled to the back mountain, took Teddy and apparated to Muriel's house, and let the Fidelity Curse take effect, and Dora is the secret keeper."

"Did they...?" Ron asked tremblingly.

"Neither Fred nor George was hit by the Death Curse. The Death Eaters have been concentrating on them, and they haven't killed them. I guess their mission is to capture... the Weasleys alive. They won't kill just yet. They," Remus said, "I... I'm sorry, Ron, Bill."

"The three members who were on guard were killed," Kingsley said.

"The Burrow and Shell Cottage attacks happened at the same time," Bill said hoarsely. "They blew the front door down, and Fleur and I, finding we couldn't Apparate, fought them and retreated, jumping into the sea. Drift After getting far enough from the coast, we Apparated here."

"One more thing." Kingsley said, taking out a bag from his pocket, "We found this not far away when we inspected the scene, do you know it?"

Inside was a pair of shattered glasses that looked like they had been dropped in the mud and trampled on.

"Is this... Percy's glasses?" Hermione asked uncertainly, "But it can't be, he..."

Ron looked to Bill for help, who stared at the pile of debris for a moment, then picked out a temple.

"Fred and George broke Percy's glasses as a prank when they were six years old. They begged me to stop Percy from telling his mother about it, and I finally agreed to let Percy choose one of the quills from my new set of quills. and we glued the glasses together," he said, showing us a bend in the top, "our workmanship was terrible... There is no doubt that these glasses belonged to Percy."

Ron gasped, "But how could he...?"

"Aberforth contacted us and said that Percy told him that the Ministry of Magic was going to raid the Burrow," Kingsley said. The internal response of the Order of the Phoenix. He worked overtime tonight, and noticed that there seemed to be a large-scale operation by the Aurors, so he went to the second floor to check... I guess he went to the scene immediately after notifying Aberforth, trying to stop them .”

"That fool," Bill said.

……

"But how could that be?" Ginny's face was pale and terrified. "How did they know that Ron and Harry were acting together?"

"Xenofilius Lovegood, it is likely that he has been helping the Death Eaters since Luna was captured." Hermione said, "I visited him with Ron in October, and there is no With fake identities, when we were separated from Harry, he only saw the two of us. But at Gringotts, they saw me and Harry together... I should have thought of this, I was too Stupid!"

"If they knew then, why didn't they do it a month later?" asked Ginny. "Why would they allow me to leave school for 'holiday' from Easter break?"

"They're biding their time, when you have McGonagall and their cover," Kingsley said. "The Society stepped up security around the Burrow and Shell Cottage after Gringotts, but they haven't shown any further action. In mid-April, another group of our members were arrested, and the manpower in the agency was even tighter, so he and Molly proposed to restore the security to the previous level."

"Bill and Fleur seldom come home after they live in Shell Cottage, but the twins are sure to come home for dinner every Friday," said Lupine. "Dora and I were there by accident, and Molly invited us , trying to throw a party for Teddy."

"They'll have to know a lot about the Burrow," said Hermione.

"It's not difficult," Kingsley said. "Because of your connection with Harry, the Burrow has been under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Magic since you disappeared. They must have also used this to check out the Order of the Phoenix sentry post." s position."

……

"They used the channel of 'Porter's Watch Station'." Bill gritted his teeth, "The broadcast just now was broadcast to all supporters of the Order of the Phoenix."

Ron gripped the Deluminator as if about to crush it, "Two hours... if we don't hand over Harry within two hours, they're going to start..."

"Even if we did, You-Know-Who won't let Mom and Dad off," Ginny said, her lips trembling.

"We'll have to try," said Hermione. "I could drink Polyjuice Potion and be Harry, and they won't see..."

"Don't even think about it!" Ron and I said in unison.

"We won't hand over Harry," said Lupine. "There will be other ways."

……

It seems you disagree with this, don't you, Potter?

Voldemort's hiss fell from my mind, lazy and cold, like Nagini flexing and stretching slowly at his feet.I'm not sure if my real body is shaking.

I thought you were afraid to enter my mind, Tom Riddle.I said, feeling a pang of anger flitting through the cracks between our thoughts.

Do your friends know their savior is betraying them?You are one of the secret-keepers of 12 Grimmauld Place, and you have just leaked it to the Dark Lord himself.

Consider this part of the deal, Riddle.You already know who is in the Order of the Phoenix and what preparations you have made. I want you to meet me alone, without any subordinates.I'll be at your disposal, and your Death Eaters will have a chance to breach the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix.

Without Nagini, you mean.He sneered in my head, you promised an empty house, not only did you want to rescue the Weasley scum, but you also wanted to lure me away from Nagini, don't you think it's too easy for you?

What I'm promising is an opportunity to simply fix this.I come alone, and so do you, then you can easily kill me.

We all know that as long as those scumbags are in my hands, you will come up to me yourself and beg me to spare them.That being the case, why did the Dark Lord complicate this matter?

He's smiling because my fear has nowhere to hide in his head.He can only see the part of me that is open to him, and he waits for me to break down so he can see what I really want to hide.I searched for emotions that would replace fear and uncertainty, and it wasn't hard.

Speaking of complicating things, do you forget what happens every time you bring someone else between us?I can help you recall those images - when you possessed Quirrell?When you wanted to kill me in front of all the Death Eaters?When you set the trap with Sirius?Maybe you'd also like to see your diary when I tried to control Ginny and I destroyed it.I beat you every time, Voldemort.If you do it this time, why do you think the result will be different?

……

I opened my eyes, but it felt like falling into a cold and empty space again.Kingsley stood in front of me, his wand still pointed at me, and his expression left me at a loss for words.

"So . . . that's it," I said with difficulty. "I have to go. In the meantime you have to get out of here. In order to conceal the more important information, I had to reveal to him everything I knew about Grimmauld Place. Situation... the arrested people are being held at Malfoy Manor, get them out."

"You're asking me to let a child die," Kingsley said, his voice tightening. "I joined the Order of the Phoenix to prevent this."

"I'm not a child anymore...I was never the kind of child you protect, I didn't have that chance," I said, "You know Dumbledore wouldn't have let me do it if there was any other way. "

"He has no right to ask anyone to do that."

"He didn't 'ask' me, I was given a choice, you know that," I said, looking over to Ron and Ginny unconscious, Hermione downstairs in the kitchen.I knocked her unconscious, mixed powdered stun flower candy into pumpkin juice, and managed to convince the others to drink it.Distraught and defenseless, Ron complied, and I knocked out Ginny as he fell to the ground. "They are like family to me. If it were you, wouldn't you make the same choice?"

"If it were me, I would ask Kreacher to help, and I guarantee that Kingsley Shacklebolt will also be lying in the living room now." Kingsley eased his tone, lowered his wand inch by inch, but vaguely revealed the posture of attacking.

"Don't do it," I said, tensing up. "You're going to knock me out and do what Hermione suggested. But you know it has to be me."

"No. If you die naturally, the fragments of your soul will disappear with you," Kingsley said, staring at me like a hunter looking for a moment of slack in his prey. "You don't have to die tonight."

"Then I'll spend the rest of my life listening to You-Know-Who's whispers, scars aching, repeating over and over all the things I failed to do, reminding me that one day someone will use me again He brought it back to this world," I said, looking him in the eye. "We can't take any chances in this matter. I know it's worth it, Kingsley, and I prepared it long ago."

We stared at each other for a long time - or so I felt, I almost screamed and wept and sobbed, but Kingsley looked away first, his shoulders slumped and the pain of revealing hit me , preventing me from responding to any of the above.He gave himself a few seconds, and when he spoke again it was business again.

"How can you be sure that the mysterious man will keep the promise?" he asked.

"That's not important," I said, "The first thing is to get Ron's family and the other people arrested. The killing of Nagini can be put on hold later, and it will be to your advantage that he brought Death Eaters with him. We've got Phineas Black's portrait back in place, contacted Snape through him, got him ready to transfer students, and after killing me You-Know-Who will definitely go to Hogwarts. He can also tell you about the attack Other information needed by Malfoy Manor."

A fiery red phoenix feather fell from the air, Kingsley stretched out his hand, and it turned into a small ball of flame in his palm.

"It's Remus. He and Bill have identified the safety of the assembly point, and the team involved in the operation is gathering there." Kingsley said.

"Don't wake Ron and Hermione until then, you'll probably make a few more trips to get them all there," I said. "They're not going to want to evacuate without me."

"They'll never forgive me," Kingsley said, as if swearing he would carry it forever if he lived, and I hope he doesn't.

"We all have our jobs, don't we?" I tried to smile and went on, "I keep some things in a drawer in my room... please, Kingsley. For all of this. Rescue them .”

I didn't look back when I left Grimmauld Place, some corner of my heart was clamoring for Kingsley to sneak up on me from behind, knock me unconscious, and move me to safety.This did not happen, the noise of the jingle film was shut behind the door, and the Grimmauld Square in the night was silent and empty, and the watchers who had been squatting nearby day and night had already left.

I twirled on the doorstep and reappeared in the wet grass.The place is very different from the last time I arrived. The snow has disappeared, the ice caps on the ponds have long since melted, and weeds and shrubs are flourishing.

I took out the resurrection stone, turned it half a circle between my fingers, and held it tightly in my palm again. I took a few steps forward, waved my upper arm, and let go of my hand.The arc drawn by the stone disappeared in the night, and there was a light sound on the surface of the pool, which brought out a few circles of ripples, and calm returned in a few seconds.

I looked to the shadows in the bushes beside me, where the silver doe hadn't wandered out, and I took one last deep breath of the air that smelled of earth and decaying leaves, and plunged again into the suffocating darkness.