Harry Potter and the Rewrite of Azkaban

Chapter 6

They were following him. Their eyes were tracking him, reading him like an open book. There were so many of these, of these.... Things, these creatures. These nightmares. They surrounded him, chased him down. Their demonic nature scared him the least. He knew why they were there.
George rushed into a small dilapidated house. I'm safe. I'm safe. He breathed slowly, hand on his chest, calming, calmer, until there came a loud banging on the door. He surged forward like a tidal wave, breaking through the wooden doors. Silence.
Silence rung in his ears as he absorbed the horrors in front of him. He saw the corpses. Hanging, piled up, spread out, pinned to the walls. Everywhere. Everyone he ever cared about. His dad, mum, his siblings, everyone. Gone. Just like that. Except...
Except.
George tried to find a door, to run, to do anything, but.... The corpses drew his attention. He was fixated on them. They were all he knew.
Window. There was a window. He lurched across the room, steps as unsteady as his breathing. Break it. Break it now. There was nothing good enough to break it with. Nothing strong enough. Apart from the knife. The knife. That knife had painted silver on his torso and drawn red. Fuck it. I'll use it anyway. George poised the knife's blade towards him and banged the window with the other side. One... Two.... Three... Smash. He didn't care about the broken glass. He wiggled himself out the window, finding new cuts on his arms, torso and legs. More pain. I deserve this. He winced as he walked, realising he had glass in his foot. He staggered to the side of the road, vomiting as he did so. Collapsing to his hands and knees, George looked around as he finished puking. There was nothing... Yet.
He sighed, relief coursing through him. I'm safe. But what about him? The one he hadn't seen in that room filled with corpses... He heard a noise coming from the dark crevices of the woods in front of him. Saw a slight movement in a tree.
"George?" Lee asked, as he emerged from the branches, hanging from one arm. George fell back.
He looked... He looked different. Not normal. His skin was discoloured and he had a very noticeable limp, bags under his eyes, his cheeks were completely sunken in, the arm he was hanging from was dislocated, and there was a hole in the middle of his torso where his stomach should have been. He was a dead man walking.
"George, wake up," Lee said urgently, but it wasn't his voice. It was Fred's. "Wake up."
Huh?
Without warning, George's eyes snapped open. He shot up, gasping for air, looking around for something to grab, to clutch to his chest, but he was met with Fred and Lee (both alive, both very much not dead, thank you very much) in front of him. He thrust his arms around Fred, tightly, making sure he was still there with him, making sure that he hadn't disappeared and was actually there and fine.
"You're good, George. You're good now."
George cried into Fred's freckled shoulder.

~~~

Kohaku Mirai was teaching the first years how to help the servants cook.
"You have to dice the onions very carefully so you don't hurt yourself - Sam! You're bleeding! Let's get a plaster on that." The Hufflepuff boy loved teaching people, and he loved cooking. Doing them both at the same time? His dream.
He watched Jasmine as she sautéed the sauce, guided Christopher as he diced spring onions, observed Lilith as she cooked the pasta, and guarded Sam as they put a plaster on their thumb. Kohaku smiled as he watched the first years flourish at helping, and stood looking at them, the sun filtering through the windows, tinting the room with a golden atmosphere. He heard two sets of footsteps before they burst into the room - it was Cloud and George, out of breath, giggling. Kohaku knew why they were here, and didn't mind them as long as they didn't disturb the first years.
"Cloud, you have to find the best strawberries you can, I'll wash them and cut them up," said George, already plotting and planning. "This is gonna be the world's best, most wholesome strawberry raid."
He had barely finished his sentence when Cloud rushed to the basket of strawberries, pulling out the reddest ones with the least bruises. When they finished, George got to work, cleaning them carefully and cutting them into four pieces each incredibly quickly.
"Alright, we have everything we need, we just gotta set it up," Cloud said, and the two ran off.
Those two. Always planning something.

~~~

George went to get Fred and Lee as Cloud set up the picnic blanket and laid out the food under the cherry blossom tree on top of the gently rolling hill. The view from it was beautiful. You could see the lake, the forest, the castle, so many things on the grounds that it looked like a completely different place in each direction. Wren saw their other three friends walking up the hill, George holding hands with Lee as Fred held his hands behind his head, caught in a laugh.
"Yeah, the hat called my name and you went up instead! Oi, Cloud, remember how the Sorting Hat told off George for being in my place? Must've been hell for the teachers to realise!" Fred was practically glowing with energy from telling this story, and the evening sun bouncing off his hair, making it even redder in nature, made him look ethereal. His wide smile was contagious, and soon enough everyone was grinning.
He gets hurt, I swear I will hurt them ten times more, George thought, a wave of protectiveness coursing through him. He wanted to protect them all, even if he died trying. He had to. He'd never forgive himself if he didn't.
Cloud laughed, and spoke to the rest of the group.
"Since it's your birthday," she said to Lee, "Fred, George and I had the idea to... Ahem, borrow, some food from the kitchens to celebrate. Hope you don't mind." Lee laughed, an incredulous look on his face. He shook his head, laughing again, his Marley twist hitting his face as his hair bounced. George felt his heart catch in his throat. Wow. I love him.
"To Lee!" George said, raising his wine glass filled with iced chocolate. Fred and Cloud followed suit, flustering Lee.
"You guys-! You're too nice!" He tried to hide behind his hands, covering his face. An idea came into George's head. He scooted closer to Lee, gently holding his hands. Lee looked at him with his chocolate brown eyes, drowning his sorrows and liberating his happiness. George grinned at him before pecking him on the lips and laughing. Cloud and Fred cheered as red dyed George's face and Lee hid again. If only they knew who was watching them.
If they did, they'd all be worse off. Even the spying side.

~~~

"You are to befriend them. Become close with them, gain their trust. The more information we can get from them about Harry Potter, the better." The man hissed in their ear.
"I understand. I'll do it."
"Good. Don't disappoint me." He left, evacuating their mind, and they let out a rattling breath. They needed to keep on pretending so that he was pleased, so that they could survive. So that they could live.

~~~

Aurora walked up to Cloud confidently and sat down next to her on the sofa, the ginger girl's fluffy pyjamas sighing as she sat.
"I'm sorry about hexing your friend. I thought he was about to attack you."
She looked at Cloud with her doe-like eyes, and those sea-green ones looked back.
"You should say that to him, not me," she said, eyes dragging back to her book. Aurora sighed and flopped back onto the sofa.
"I like you. We should be friends." The hell? What am I on about? She's not gonna say yes just like-
"If it makes you happy."
Huh. Did I mess up? She don't seem to like me. Hmm.... Aurora faked a grin, looking perfect on her sharp features. Cloud grinned back, the same enthusiasm reflected on her face.
Aurora burst into giggles as the worry lifted from her body, Cloud laughing with her.
"We got Professor Lupin after breakfast, right?"
"Yeah, I think so, then we got bloody Snape," Cloud answered. "I swear he's got it out for me."
"He's got it out for everyone. I think it's his way of caring," Aurora mused, staring at the ceiling. Snape did have a tendency to know when people were hurt or sick. One time Aurora herself had the flu so badly she couldn't move from her bed, and he'd made some sort of potion and she recovered the next day. He then gave her a detention for missing her homework.
"Why are you up so early, anyway? It's five in the morning," Aurora asked, her Irish accent lilting.
"I could ask you the same thing."
"Touchè."
"Thanks, I work hard on it."
Another round of giggles burst from both of them.

~~~

Fred and George burst into the classroom, feeling extra and flashy. They saw that Cloud and Lee had saved them seats next to Aurora and Thea, not being noticed by Professor Binns as he carried on drawling.
"What did we miss?" Fred hissed under his breath.
"Only the part where centaurs staged a revolution and gained rights as magical beings," Thea responded quickly. "The leader was Rynleia. I'll fill you in on that part later on."
"They're amazing," Cloud whispered. "They know everything."
Thea blushed, clearly flustered.
"Well-"
"No well, you're amazing, accept it."
"...Fine." Thea laughed awkwardly, blushing more.
George looked at Cloud, knowing something was up. An idea was already in the works.
"You two should flirt later on," Lee teased, a grin on his face.
"Says you, making heart eyes at George every minute of the day!"
George turned to Fred and lightly pinched him, laughing at the little yelp. Aurora burst out laughing, snorting a little. Cloud found her laugh oddly endearing, like a cat purring. It was a good lesson.
My mission is accomplished.