𝘈𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘖𝘧 𝘚𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝄂︎ ☠︎︎ 𝄃︎ 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘗𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳

𝟾. 𝙴𝚜𝚖𝚎'𝚜 𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝙽𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚎

The small group of The Order came to their decision.

Esme was to join them and give as much information as she could on Voldemort and his followers. But with even the first sign of disloyalty, she would be imprisoned for her crimes.

Molly and Arthur were the first to warm up to Esme. Molly would try to talk to her, but Esme only spoke a few words now. Being inside the house with so many men made her extremely uncomfortable, so her best option was to occlude and shut herself off.

Against their better judgment, they told Esme of their plan to rescue Harry. She probably had more combat training than most of the older members, which Moody liked.

That night, Esme stayed on the roof. She knew none of the other's would want to room with her. Who would? So, she took the blanket and pillow Molly had offered and set herself up on a platform that faced the stars.

For the first time since February... Esme slept. Slept the whole night through. All because she could see the Draco constellation shining down at her. Watching her.

~~

The next day, Hermione arrived. She was just as shocked to see Esme sitting in the Weasley kitchen as you can imagine. But Ron, the ever protective almost-boyfriend, kept Hermione away from Esme.

When night fell, they apparated to the Dursley home. Esme apparated with Remus, who was only one of the two people that could touch her. She looked around at all the houses. "Very... muggle."

Remus snorted. "Well, he does live with them. He did at least." He led them to the door.

Hagrid had already knocked. Harry opened the door and smiled up at the familiar giant before he was taken into the arms of his ginger best friend, Hermione after him. "Harry! You look quite fit!"

Moody limped over with his cane, shoving past all of them. "Yes, he's absolutely gorgeous! Let's get undercover before someone murders him!"

Everyone filed in, all greeting Harry with opened arms. Esme was the last, Harry's eyes widening when he saw her enter the living room behind Remus and Dora.

"Wh-What's she doing here?" Harry asked, trying not to be quick to make assumptions.

Esme sighed, rolling her eyes. "Yes, Potter. I defected. Because I wasn't the one to kill Dumbledore, Voldemort had me assaulted and turned into a werewolf. I was rescued by Remus. Let's move this along please? Muggle houses smell weird."

Remus sighed at her bluntness, he half blamed it on the wolf.

"Same wolf that did this to me." Bill pointed to his face where three claw marks on his face. "Take steaks on the raw side now."

"Raw steak is far better." Remus and Esme said in unison, then glancing oddly at each other. Dora just quietly laughed.

"Wait til you hear the news Harry. Remus and i—" Dora began but was cut off by Moody who bursted into the room from the kitchen.

"Alright! We'll have time for a cozy catchup later! We've got to get the hell out of here, and soon!" Moody said as he went to the top of the room. "Potter, you're still underage. So that means you still have a trace on you."

"What's a trace?" Harry asked.

"It means, if you sneeze the Ministry will know who wipes your nose." Esme quipped up, Moody seemed to like that.

"Point is, we have to use means of transport that the Ministry cannot detect. Brooms, Thestrals, and others. We go in pairs. That way, if there's anyone out there waiting for us, which i have no doubt about..."