𝐑𝐄𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐒-ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕪 ℙ𝕠𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣❥

𝐃𝐇 𝟕

Everything seemed fuzzy, slow. Harry and Hermione jumped to their feet and drew their wands. Many people were only just realizing that something strange had happened; heads were still turning toward the silver cat as it vanished.

Silence spread outward in cold ripples from the place where the Patronus had landed. Then somebody screamed.

Harry and Hermione threw themselves into the panicking crowd. Guests were sprinting in all directions; many were Disapparating; the protective enchantments around the Burrow had broken.

"Emily! Ron!" Hermione cried. "Ron! Emily, where are you?"

As they pushed their way across the dance floor, Harry saw cloaked and masked figures appearing in the crowd; then he saw Lupin and Tonks, their wands raised, and heard both of them shout, "Protego!", a cry that was echoed on all sides —

"Ron! Emily!" Hermione called, half sobbing as she and Harry were buffeted by terrified guests: Harry seized her hand to make sure they weren't separated as a streak of light whizzed over their heads, whether a protective charm or something more sinister he did not know —

And then Ron was there. He caught hold of Hermione's free arm.

"Where's Emily?" both Ron and Hermione shouted at once, panic splitting their voices through the chaos.

Harry's heart lurched. He didn't hesitate—he dropped Hermione's hand and sprinted through the smoke and flashing curses, shoving past panicking guests until he reached Remus and Tonks, who were fighting shoulder to shoulder with Ethan.

"Have you seen Emily?" Harry yelled, his voice raw. But Ethan was too busy—spells flew from his wand like lightning as he shielded Tonks from a Death Eater's blast. He didn't even hear Harry.

Then—
A scream.
A desperate, broken cry for help that tore through the roar of battle.

Harry spun around, his stomach twisting. There—across the chaos—he saw her. Emily. Trapped. Death Eaters encircled her like wolves, wands pointed, faces twisted with malice, the air crackling with the promise of another curse.

"NO!" Harry bellowed, sprinting toward her, wand raised, ready to tear through every one of them to reach her.

But Emily beat him to it. Her lips moved quickly, her voice low and steady despite the panic all around her. A faint shimmer of light rippled through the air, and suddenly—all at once—the Death Eaters around her crumpled like puppets with their strings cut.

Harry skidded to a halt, chest heaving, eyes wide with awe and relief.

Emily didn't waste a second. She leapt over one of the fallen Death Eaters and ran straight for him, grabbing his hand with trembling fingers and spinning him around toward Ron and Hermione.

"Quick!" she shouted, her voice shaking but firm. "They won't hold for long!"

Her hand was small but fierce in his, grounding him even as the world burned around them.

The moment she reached Hermione, she grabbed her hand too—and before Harry could even take another breath, the world vanished. Sight and sound ripped away, replaced by suffocating darkness that pressed in on every inch of them. The only thing Harry could feel were Emily's and Hermione's hands, clinging to him as they were yanked through space and time—away from the Burrow, away from the screams and fire and death—away, perhaps, from Voldemort himself.

"Where are we?" Ron's voice gasped somewhere in the dark.

Emily opened her eyes. For a heartbeat, it felt as if nothing had changed. People still blurred around them, lights flickered—was it over? Were they still at the wedding?