Running AIAOY 7

Chapter 2

"Do you know where we're going?"  Harry asked after they had cried their fill.  Neither Rebecca nor Harry had voiced the very real possibility of the others, any of the others, having met the same fate as Hedwig.

Rebecca used the shoulder of her jumper to wipe her cheek, trying to find any sort of meaning to the dials on the motorbike.  "Vaguely."

Harry sat back in the sidecar and pulled his knees up to his chest.  "She-"

"I can't, Harry."  Rebecca's breath hitched in her throat.  "Not yet."

Harry opted to sit in silence.  

Later, after they had continued in the direction they had been in for the better part of what seemed like ages, the motorcycle dropped in the air before sputtering back to life far weaker than it had been before.

It scared Rebecca and Harry to startle and Hagrid was roused from his stupor.  Shaking the grogginess from him and then moving Rebecca back into the sidecar, Hagrid kicked the bike to a higher power to get them back on track.  The gauges that meant nothing to Rebecca told Hagrid that they had veered too far eastward.

The sky ahead had a sheen to it, a shielded bubbly look.  Their transport passed through it as if it were nothing but a thick fog.  Once their visibility cleared, the Burrow was ahead with its lights on to act as a beacon for those who were on their way.

Hagrid wrangled the bike into a lower gear as a compromise when it tried to cut out again.  The bike cooperated, but only barely.  "Hold on, you two!"  Hagrid shouted.  "She's not gonna behave!"

Hagrid tried to ease their landing, but slammed into one of the ponds along the outskirts of the hill near the house.  The water poured up over the edge, drenching Harry and Rebecca as they held onto each other tightly.  The bike revved and bounced along that pond before skidding to a sinking stop in the middle. 

Hagrid swung his massive leg off and held a hand out to Harry.  The water only reached up to the half-giant's thighs.  Rebecca knew the water would be deeper for them compared to Hagrid, but she didn't expect it to go up to Harry's shoulders.  Harry put her arm over his shoulders to keep her head well above where the water went for him until they made it to dry land.

"Rebecca?"  Molly shouted as she and Ginny ran off the porch where they had been anxiously waiting the return of anyone.  "Harry?"  She stopped in front of them and wiped off Rebecca's face and then Harry's.  "What happened?  Where are the others?"  Molly looked up to Hagrid for answers with fear not-yet masked.

"No one else is back?"  Rebecca asked softly, looking behind Ginny as if the others were hiding.

"They were on us right from the start, Molly."  Hagrid shook his head.  "We didn't stand a chance.  The Death Eaters were waiting for us."

Molly cupped the cheeks of the soaked twins.  "At least you two are alright, yeah?  Come, get warm up here."

"It was an ambush..."  Hagrid's retelling railed away as he and Molly began to walk back towards the house.  The three others stayed where they were, Rebecca's eyes scanning the sky in the direction they and Hagrid had come from.

Ginny had run back to the house only for towels, and she offered one to Harry and Rebecca both.  Rebecca didn't notice, too focused, but Harry took it gratefully.  "Ron and Tonks should've already been back."  Ginny's eyes flickered to Rebecca and then back to Harry nervously.  "Fred and dad, too."

There was a crack of someone apparating to their right and Remus' voice called out for help.  Out from the tall grass came Remus stumbling with a bleeding Harry-copy hung over his shoulder.  Sirius was close behind him with an equally unconscious Rebecca-copy over his shoulder.