Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

5

Chapter 5—Fallen Warrior

Summary

Harry struggles from his crash, rushing to Hagrid’s side, but the half-giant won’t stir. Then there’s a new voice and a woman shouts to someone named Ted about how they’ve crashed in the garden. Harry wakes up on a sofa, his missing tooth regrown. Ted Tonks is sitting nearby; he’s patched Harry up and encourages him to move slow, asking what went wrong. Harry explains that the Death Eaters knew that he was going to be moved, and Ted mentions the protective charms on the house holding well. Harry realizes that’s the reason why Voldemort vanished before he crashed. He tries to get to his feet to find Hagrid, but Hagrid beats him to it, limping into the room and giving him a hug.

Harry panics at the sight of a woman he presumes is Bellatrix, but it turns out to be Andromeda, Dora’s mother. She demands to know where her daughter is, but Harry doesn’t know. He suggests they take the Portkey to the Burrow so they can find out about what happened to the others. Ted directs them to the Portkey, which is meant to leave in three minutes. Before they touch it, Hagrid asks where Hedwig is, and Harry has to tell him that she went down. Hagrid tries to comfort him, but the Portkey leaves and they’re soon at the Burrow. Molly and Ginny are there, asking about the others—no one has returned yet. Harry explains that the Death Eaters were waiting for them. Hagrid asks Molly for brandy, giving Ginny the chance to tell Harry that Ron, Tonks, Arthur, and Fred should have already returned by now. Lupin and George are next, and though they make it on time, George’s ear has been cursed off. As he’s settled on the sofa, Lupin hauls Harry aside, asking him a security question to be sure he’s the real Harry; he knows someone has betrayed them. (He knows it can’t be someone in disguise as Hagrid because the Polyjuice Potion can only be used by humans.)

Harry points out that Voldemort didn’t know the whole plan, or he’d have known who was the real Harry from the beginning. When Lupin asks how they figured out he was the real Harry, he mentions disarming Stan Shunpike, and Lupin is horrified—he tells Harry that he has to stop using Expelliarmus as a go-to because the Death Eaters are perceiving it as a trademark of his. Harry retorts that he refuses to blow people away like Voldemort does. Hermione and Kingsley arrive, and he moves to make sure that Lupin is safe by asking him what Dumbledore’s last words were to them both. (“Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him.”) They start relating what happened during their flights, which leads Hermione to express surprise over Stan’s appearance, since he was meant to be in Azkaban. Kingsley points out that there’s clearly been a mass breakout from Azkaban that the Ministry is covering up. It also comes out that the person who cursed off George’s ear was Snape. Everyone stares up at the sky, waiting for others to arrive until Harry is called in by Hagrid to see to George. Soon after, Arthur and Fred arrive. George makes a joke about being saintlike, “holey,” which comforts Fred.

Everyone goes back to waiting, watching the skies. Tonks and Ron finally appear; they and a rough time because Bellatrix was determined to get her hands on Tonks, but she praises Ron’s performance under pressure. Kingsley has to head back to Downing Street, and Bill and Fleur finally arrive. Bill gives his mother a brief hug before announcing to the group and Mad-Eye is dead. Voldemort went straight for him, and Mundungus Disapparated out of panic. A curse hit Moody square in the face and he fell. Everyone heads inside and breaks the news to the twins. Bill pours everyone in the retrieval crew a shot of firewhiskey, holding one up for Moody. Once they’ve toasted and drank, Lupin points out the suspiciousness of Mundungus vanishing, but Bill points out that the plan had been his idea—if he was going to give it away to the Death Eaters, why wouldn’t he have given away all of it. Tonks points out that Voldemort did exactly what Moody thought he would do, assuming that he had Harry as the toughest Auror of the group. Harry decides that he doesn’t believe anyone in the group would have betrayed him, and tells the group that the have to trust each other. The twins are pleased with that sentiment, but Lupin points out that Harry is much like his father; believing it the “height of dishonor to mistrust his friends.”