Nightmare (Harry Potter OC Fic)

35. Alone Together

The Ministry was suspicious. The old Minister was thought to be resigning and a new one was going to be put in his place, but Thicknesse was odd. Order meetings lasted weeks at a time trying to figure out what was happening between the Death Eaters and Harry Potter.

Chaos was happening.

No one trusted anyone and everyone seemed to fend for themselves. And despite the problems between the Order, they came to one conclusion: Harry Potter was in danger. Unknown to the new Order recruits, Dumbledore had told the veterans of Harry's protection. It expired when he became of age. So the new plan of action was getting to him before Voldemort's Death Eaters were.

Flying through the air, Tiberius smiled back at Kei, who sat on the Thestral behind him. Through the dark night, we rode through London towards Four Privet Drive to retrieve Harry. As they landed, Hagrid revved the engine of his motorbike, signalling Harry of the Order's arrival.

The curtains on the kitchen window moved to reveal the confused raven-haired boy. Alastor had a Disillusionment Charm placed on them so they wouldn't be spotted by any muggles or found by any Death Eaters. When it was lifted, Harry disappeared from the window and the backdoor swung open.

Hermione and Ron were the first two to advance at their friend, Hermione hugging him tightly. Ron clapped him on the back, and Hagrid said, "All righ', Harry? Ready fer the off?"

"Definitely," said Harry, beaming around at his saviours. "But I wasn't expecting this many of you!"

"I thought you'd be happy to see us, Harry," Kei whacked his head.

"I am," he rubbed the spot, "but I just wasn't expecting all of you!"

"Change of plan," growled Alastor, 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."

Kei walked through the doors with Tiberius trailing them towards the kitchen. Alastor dropped the sacks on the ground.

"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 offence 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 from 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 Alastor 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."

"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.

"Now, your mother's charm will only break under two conditions: when you come of age, or" — Alastor 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?"