The Healer | Part 2: The War

Dumbledore's Army

We quickly donned our rucksacks and headed out onto the landing. There was a brief argument while we tried to convince Ginny to stay behind. She was underage after all, and we all knew her parents would kill us all if anything happened to her. But it quickly became clear that Ginny had absolutely no intentions of being left behind and no one was about to make her. To be quite honest, we all felt she would be more of a liability if we did leave her behind. So Fred gave her a rucksack and that was the end of that discussion.

This was it. This was the something big we had all been waiting for. The barman at the Hog's Head had informed the Order of the Phoenix that Harry Potter intended to sneak into the school and somehow put an end to this war. George had found his Dumbledore's Army galleon and had sent a message through it that Hogwarts needed our help. I wondered if Mia or Cho would respond. I hadn't seen either of them since we had graduated from Hogwarts almost a year ago.

I took one last look around the flat. I didn't know if I would be coming back here after this was over. With a jolt, I realized I may not even survive whatever was about to happen. I looked anxiously at George and then Fred. They were both grinning, it had been so long since any of us felt useful. This was what we all wanted, to help. To fight. Would I ever see them again after tonight? I couldn't dwell on that, I could feel my resolve fading already.

If Harry Potter was about to infiltrate Hogwarts, which was crawling with Death Eaters, it was only a matter of time before You-Know-Who found out about it. And he would be sure to bring the full force of his army against us to get to Harry. We were facing a battle, we all knew it.

'Thank you,' I threw my arms around George and held him tightly. He froze for a moment and then wrapped his arms around me tightly. 'And you, too.' I let him go and repeated the action with Fred. He froze as well and awkwardly patted me on the back. 'And you as well, I suppose, though it hasn't been near as long as it has with these two.' I turned to Ginny next.

'What for?' George asked.

'You've all been so good to me for so long,' I explained. 'I really can't thank you enough. I'd probably be dead if it weren't for you two.' I spoke the last to George and Fred.

'Don't say that,' Fred frowned. 'You've got a good head on your shoulders, even Mum says so. You would have been fine.'

'All the same, I'm so grateful. I just wanted you to know in case I die tonight.' I replied.

'There's no need to be so dramatic, no one's going to die,' George smirked. 'Except maybe some Death Eaters and You-Know-Who if we're really lucky. Now c'mon!'

We had been informed that Hogsmeade was under a curfew as well. The Order of the Phoenix was being dispatched to the Hog's Head and the idea was to trigger the Caterwauling Charm so many times that there would be no way of knowing who had done it and where they had gone. We had the advantage of the Camouflage Cloaks as well, which would help us get to our destination.

'For what it's worth, Edith,' Fred said. 'I wouldn't change the last ten months for anything.'

I grinned at him, took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

'Oi,' George took my other hand and pulled me closer to him. 'She's my girlfriend, bugger off.'

We all laughed, I felt tears forming in my eyes. I would miss this. Everything was about to change. Fred gripped Ginny's hand firmly. She would need more help as she didn't have a license to Apparate yet.

On the count of three, we Disapparated together.

There was a loud screeching sound when we appeared in the streets of Hogsmeade. Several dark figures were darting around the Main Street, some chasing others. With our Camouflage Cloaks in place, no one seemed to have noticed our arrival. We continued to hold hands to stay together and slowly made our way to the Hog's Head.