Daisy Potter and the Fallen Angel (Book 7, Harry Potter ff)

Chapter 2 - Holy, Then Not

I awoke as my feet slammed onto hard ground and I fell onto my hands and knees. Panting, dazed, confused, I looked up. I heard screams and yells. I was hoisted up underneath one arm; I stood, swaying slightly, and saw Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Harry, Kylie, and Fleur running down the steps by the back door, Hagrid lumbering after them. I glanced to the side and saw Sirius holding a glowing hairbrush; that must've been the Portkey, he must have gotten us into Tonks's parents' house okay after I passed out.

"Daisy? You ARE the real Daisy? What happened? Where are the others?" Mrs Weasley cried as Harry slammed into me, hugging me hard.

"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" I panted, staggering as I hugged Harry back with as much force as he used.

The answer was clearly etched in Mrs Weasley's pale face.

"We literally just got here, right before you." Harry explained.

"The Death Eaters were waiting for us." I told them. "We were surrounded the moment we took off - somehow the fuckers knew it was tonight - I dunno what happened to anyone else, so many of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Riddle caught up with us -"

I could hear the self-justifying note in my voice, the plea for her to understand why I didn't know what had happened to her sons, but -

"Thank goodness you're all right." Mrs Weasley said, pulling me into a hug. I sagged into her arms, exhausted.

"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" Hagrid asked a little shakily. "Fer medicinal purposes?"

She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, I knew that she wanted to hide her face. I turned to Harry, Ginny, and Kylie, and Ginny answered my unspoken plea for information at once.

"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them." She said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," She pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Emily and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. Harry and Hagrid were third, you and Sirius were fourth, and," She checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."

Mrs Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.

"Mum!" Ginny shouted, pointing to a spot several feet away.

A blue light had appeared in the darkness: It grew larger and brighter, and Lupin and George appeared, spinning and then falling. I knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.

I ran forward and seized George's legs. Together, me and Lupin carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the living room, where we laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped and my stomach lurched: one of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.

No sooner had Mrs Weasley bent over her son than Lupin grabbed me by the upper arm and dragged me, none too gently, back into the kitchen, where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door.

"Oi!" Hagrid said indignantly, "Le' go of 'er! Le' go of Daisy!"

Lupin ignored him.

"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Daisy and Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" He said, giving me a small shake. "Answer me!"

"Jesus fucking Christ - a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"

Lupin released me and stalked out of the room again, returning with Harry and repeating the process with him as I fell back against a kitchen cupboard, slowly becoming aware of the stinging pain in my leg again.