Blood of the Moon {Remus Lupin}

Chapter 81

K so take a deep breath and settle down cos this one's rough :)

Auriga Malfoy hated flying. It might have something to do with the time her brother had been kidnapped, and she'd nearly fallen, or maybe when they'd rescued Harry the first time and frozen half to death. Or maybe it stemmed from how she found quidditch so boring. Regardless, she was relieved when they landed in the back garden of four, Privet Drive.

Harry burst out to greet them, but Moody quickly ushered them inside saying they were 'too exposed'. She and Tonks took a seat at the nearby table.

"What are you all doing here?" Harry asked, wide-eyed.

"Pius Thicknesse has banned all apparition, flooing, or use of a portkey from here," Moody informed him. "So we're using all other ways we can travel."

"How are you, Harry?" she cut across, well aware that his ex-boyfriend almost killing his mentor would probably have a huge toll on him. And no one else was asking, so she might as well. "Everything alright? Not going loopy?"

"All good," said Harry, a bemused expression on his face. Auriga sat back, satisfied, as Moody explained the plan. There was a slight scuffle from Harry's part when he began refusing to hand over his hair for the poly juice potion.

"Even Voldemort can't split himself into eight, Potter," said Moody, still holding the flask out. Harry finally gave in, and the potion bubbled into a sparkling gold.

But something was off. Auriga's arm began to tingle, and she looked down to see her mark poking out, as black as night. "We've got a problem, Moody," she said, and everyone looked her way. "He's here."

"What?" asked Moody, looking like he might explode.

Auriga snatched her sleeve back to reveal it sat there, black, contorting and ugly as ever. "It's only that dark when he's nearby. Something to do with the strength of the spell."

"Somebody gave us away," muttered Moody, his eye spinning madly to look at each person in turn.

"We don't know that," said Auriga. "It could've been legillimency. We're not all skilled occlumens."

"What are we gonna do?" asked Ron with a frown.

"Wait it out?" suggested Tonks.

"No," said Auriga. "No, I'm not sure they'll leave. We don't know how much they actually know about the plan, so all we have to do is tweak it."

"What would you suggest?" asked Sirius.

"Why me?" said Auriga, noticing people were still looking at her.

"That's why you're here, Malfoy," said Moody. "You know them better than any of us. You can think like them."

Auriga steadied herself to stop from squirming. "OK," she said slowly. "Send six decoys and protectors up to go to the locations as normal. The Death Eaters and Voldemort will go after them. Then Sirius and I can deal with any that hang behind. When they're gone, we can alert Harry and Hagrid."

Moody nodded, apparently not seeing any flaws in the new plan. "Alright, come on then. Polyjuice potion."

"No!" said Harry. "This is worse, you're in even more danger now that we know he's there."

"Technically they're in the same amount of danger," said Auriga. "He'd still be there even if we didn't know. It could be argued that they're in less danger because they know what they're facing-"

"Still no!" protested Harry. Auriga saw Remus smirking at her and felt the hairs in her neck prick up. She ignored it.

"I get it, Harry," she reassured him. He frowned and opened his mouth to protest. "Why should you live a better life than everyone else, right? I understand. It's what I think about Draco everyday. Why should I get to be free when he's still trapped?

"But I get up, everyday. And I fight, so that one day, when he needs me, I can be there. And one day, these people are going to need you, and you'll need to be there.

"This is the plan. We're doing it. And we'll force your hand in it if we have to."

"And that's enough of threatening my Godson," said Sirius lightly, trying to crack a joke. "Come on you lot, get dressed." He stood next to Auriga, watching as the decoys shrunk and grew. "Bit heavy handed, Malfoy," he muttered. "Didn't need to bring the ex up."

Auriga shrugged. "It worked, didn't it?"

*****

"Stupefy!" shouted Auriga as a Death Eater tore off after George Weasley and Remus. He yelped as he slipped off his broom and fell. Down and down and down. A green curse shot past her ear and she turned, doing the same to her attacker. Three Death Eaters remained, apparently not aware that any of them would hang behind. Auriga couldn't help but feel proud that her plan had worked.

She shot another off his broom, and Sirius disarmed another, before sending him plummeting with a knockback jinx. He and Auriga stunned the next one simultaneously and grimaced as he shot back six feet before falling.

"That's all of them," said Auriga, flying round in a circle and surveying the area. "Go and get them." Sirius nodded and pushed his broom into a dive, leaving Auriga hovering in the black sky, and well aware that they were ten minutes behind everyone else. And that meant ten minutes closer to Voldemort.

Auriga began to think that maybe they weren't coming, maybe she had failed, maybe Sirius had never made it down. But soon enough she heard the roar of an engine, saw the light of a flying motorbike, with Harry clutching on to the sidecar for dear life while Sirius flew behind them.

Auriga lead the way, heading North through the black air. They were so far undisturbed, and it wouldn't be long before they reached Tonks's parents'. Her mind flashed to what the others might be facing, outnumbered and flying for their lives. Once or twice she thought she saw a shape dart in front of her, and readied herself for attack. But nothing came.

And then, when they were no more than ten minutes away, she heard a shout to her left. "OVER THERE!"

"HAGRID, GO!" roared Sirius from the back. Auriga swerved to the right as Hagrid shot past with Harry, fire shooting out of the back like a dragon's mouth. "You're on bloody fire!" said Sirius, firing a stunner at their oncoming attackers.

Sure enough, the tail of Auriga's broom was alight, sending a billow of smoke into the air. She dodged another killing curse as she tried to put it out, failing miserably; she couldn't twist round to aim without making her broom spin.

"Here!" shouted Sirius, before putting it out with a jet of water.

"Look out!" she screamed, seeing the green soaring towards him. He dodged it just in time, slipping sideways off his broom and clutching onto the front end of it desperately. It tilted forwards, flying towards the ground in a spiralling dive. "SIRIUS!"

But Auriga had no time to cry out again, because there were four Death Eaters flying towards her, and more going in Harry and Hagrid's direction. She stunned one from his broom, dodged another's spell and collided with one more, sending him and his broom down to their death. She stunned another, letting another death bloody her hands.

She was left alone in the air with one Death Eater, his mask staring at her expressionlessly. "Auriga," said her father's voice from behind it.

Auriga froze. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't kill him, not when she knew that deep down he loved her. She had always come first. He'd always done what was best for her. Or what he thought was best. But regardless of whether he was right or wrong, she'd been first.

He turned and fled, fled through the night sky. Auriga knew what he would have to face in letting her go, knew what would happen to her mother and Draco. And even after everything they'd put her through, her heart was full to bursting with gratitude.