When Fred and Arthur touched down, they both immediately put their arms around the other as Fred's Harry face transformed back into his own.

"Gideon. Where's George?" Fred asked Kingsley, who had asked him what his middle name was. Kingsley paused for a moment before calmly telling them about George's accident.

"He's inside. Arthur, I need to you answer a question before you go in—"

"I'll prove who I am, Kingsley, after I've seen my son, now back off if you know what's good for you!"

Fred had never heard Arthur shout like that before. He burst into the living room, his bald patch gleaming with sweat, his spectacles askew, Fred right behind him.

"Arthur!" sobbed Molly. "Oh thank goodness!"

"How is he?" Arthur dropped to his knees beside George.

Fred seemed to be lost for words. He gaped over the back of the sofa at his twin's wound as if he could not believe what he was seeing. There was a big gaping hole where George's ear used to be, but George slept soundly. Fred felt rather sickly as he watched over his brother.

"Where's Tori?" Fred said suddenly, glancing over his shoulder to look at Harry. She wouldn't have left George's side. "Wasn't she with you and Hagrid?"

Harry was silent so Fred asked again.

"Harry. Where's Tori?"

"There— There was a Death Eater behind us... and well— Tori was fending them off... something happened to her broom— I tried to grab for her, I did but she fell... and I don't think..."

A feeling of sick dread came over Fred. No. There must have been some mistake... Tori couldn't be gone. Tori and George in one night...

The door burst open a moment later, not even giving Fred a chance to have a physical reaction. Tori was in the doorway. Her hair was windblown and messy and she looked frightened, but overall appeared okay. Fred stood up immediately but before Tori could take another step, Lupin held up his wand to her throat.

"What is your boggart?"

"What?" Tori asked, looking bewildered.

"Your boggart. Answer the question."

"My... why?"

"Answer the question!"

"A big silver snake!" Tori shrieked. "The one from the Silvers crest!" Lupin lowered his wand and Tori rushed into Fred's arms. They both then crouched down to George who slowly began to stir.

"How do you feel, Georgie?" whispered Molly as she stroked his hair.

George's fingers groped for the side of his head.

"Saintlike," He murmured.

"What's wrong with him?" croaked Fred, looking terrified. "Is his mind affected?"

Tori grabbed Fred's arm gently. "Come again?" She asked George.

"Saintlike," repeated George, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother and Tori. "You see... I'm holy. Holey, Fred, Tori, geddit?"

Molly sobbed harder than ever. Color flooded Fred's pale face and Tori let out a sigh of relief.

"Pathetic," He told George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humor before you, you go for I'm holey?"

"Ah well," said George, "Reckon I'm still better looking than you. Right, Tori?"

Tori let out a laugh, "You both literally have the same face." George grinned at his tear-soaked mother. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum." He looked around.

"Hi, Harry— you are Harry, right?"

"Yeah, I am," said Harry, moving closer to the sofa.

"Well, at least we got you back okay," said George. "Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled round my sickbed?"

"They're not back yet, George," said Mrs. Weasley. George's grin faded. Harry glanced at Ginny and motioned to her to accompany him back outside. As they walked through the kitchen she said in a low voice.

"The Porkey's left without us," Fred said weakly. "We had to improvise."

"How did you get here, Tori?" Arthur asked her. Tori ran her fingers through her hair. "I appeared at Tonks's parent's house but Harry and Hagrid had already left. I appaerated about a mile away from here since I didn't know what spells were put over the house and took my broom the rest of the way."

The room went quiet when Molly and Arthur left to greet Ron and Tonks.

"Are you in any pain?" Tori asked George, getting up and grabbing him extra pillows. George shook his head, "Everything's more muffled now if I turn my head a certain way. I can't still hear though,"

"Well, maybe you'll be able to gain all your senses in your ear... Bad joke. I'm sorry."

"You should be, that was terrible," George said. Fred shook his head half-heartedly, "We've raised you better." The three of them laughed.

Slowly, the rest of the group, now with Bill, Ron, and Tonks, entered the Burrow. "What's wrong?" asked Fred, scanning their faces as they entered, "What's happened? Who's—?"

"Mad-Eye," said Bill, "Dead."

The three of their grins turned to grimaces of shock. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Tori's eyes filled with tears. Tonks was crying silently into a handkerchief: She had been close to Mad-Eye. Hagrid, who had sat down on the floor in the corner where he had most space, was dabbing at his eyes with his tablecloth-sized handkerchief.

Bill walked over to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of fire-whisky and some glasses.

"Here," he said, and with a wave of his wand, he sent thirteen full glasses soaring through the room to each of them, holding the fourteenth aloft. "Mad-Eye."

"Mad-Eye," they all said, and drank.

"Mad-Eye," echoed Hagrid, a little late, with a hiccup. The firewhisky seared Tori's throat. It seemed to burn feeling back into her, dispelling the numbness and sense of unreality firing her with something that was like courage.

"So Mundungus disappeared?" said Lupin, who had drained his own glass in one.

The atmosphere changed at once. Everybody looked tense, watching Lupin, both wanting him to go on, it seemed to Tori, and slightly afraid of what they might hear.

"I know what you're thinking," said Bill, "and I wondered that too, on the way back here, because they seemed to be expecting us, didn't they? But Mundungus can't have betrayed us. They didn't know there would be seven Harrys, that confused them the moment we appeared, and in case you've forgotten, it was Mundungus who suggested that little bit of skulduggery. Why wouldn't he have told them the essential point? I think Dung panicked, it's as simple as that. He didn't want to come in the first place, but Mad-Eye made him, and You-Know-Who went straight for them. It was enough to make anyone panic."

"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to," sniffed Tonks. "Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Harry to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and when Mundungus gave them away he switched to Kingsley.... "

"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey know we were moving 'Arry tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."

She glared around at them all, tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of them to contradict her. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccupping from behind his handkerchief.

"No," Harry said aloud, and they all looked at him, surprised: The firewhisky seemed to have amplified his voice. "I mean... if somebody made a mistake," Harry went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault," he repeated, again a little louder than he would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Voldemort."

More silence followed his words. They were all looking at him.

"Well said, Harry," said Fred unexpectedly.

"Year, 'ear, 'ear," said George, with half a glance at Fred, the corner of whose mouth twitched. Tori tried her best not to smile, wiping her eyes.

Lupin was wearing an odd expression as he looked at Harry. It was close to pitying.

"You think I'm a fool?" demanded Harry.

"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin, "Who would have regarded it as the height of dishonor to mistrust his friends."

Lupin had turned away from him, set down his glass upon a side table, and addressed Bill, "There's work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether—"

"No," said Bill at once, "I'll do it, I'll come."

"Where are you going?" said Tonks and Fleur together.

"Mad-Eye's body," said Lupin. "We need to recover it."

"Can't it—?" began Molly with an appealing look at Bill.

"Wait?" said Bill, "Not unless you'd rather the Death Eaters took it?"

Nobody spoke. Lupin and Bill said goodbye and left.

The rest of them now dropped into chairs, all except for Harry, who remained standing.

"I've got to go too," said Harry.

Eleven pairs of startled eyes looked at him.

"Don't be silly, Harry," said Molly, "What are you talking about?"

"I can't stay here."

He rubbed his forehead.

"You're all in danger while I'm here. I don't want—"

"But don't be so silly!" said Molly. "The whole point of tonight was to get you here safely, and thank goodness it worked. And Fleur's agreed to get married here rather than in France, we've arranged everything so that we can all stay together and look after you—"

"If Voldemort finds out I'm here—"

"But why should he?" asked Molly.

"There are a dozen places you might be now, Harry," said Arthur. "He's got no way of knowing which safe house you're in."

"It's not me I'm worried for!" said Harry.

"We know that," said Arthur quietly, "but it would make our efforts tonight seem rather pointless if you left."

"Yer not goin' anywhere," growled Hagrid. "Blimey, Harry, after all, we wen' through ter get you here?"

"Yeah, what about my bleeding ear?" said George, hoisting himself upon his cushions.

"I know that—"

"Mad-Eye wouldn't want—"

"I KNOW!" Harry bellowed.

There was a long and awkward silence and which was broken at last by Molly.

"Where's Hedwig, Harry?" She said coaxingly. "We can put her up with Pidwidgeon and give her something to eat."

"Wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Harry," said Hagrid. "Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!"

"It wasn't me," said Harry flatly. "It was my wand. My wand acted of its own accord."

After a few moments, Hermione said gently, "But that's impossible, Harry. You mean that you did magic without meaning to; you reacted instinctively."

"No," said Harry. "The bike was falling, I couldn't have told you where Voldemort was, but my wand spun in my hand and found him and shot a spell at him, and it wasn't even a spell I recognized. I've never made gold flames appear before."

"Often," said Arthur, "When you're in a pressured situation you can produce magic you never dreamed of. Small children often find, before they're trained—"

"It wasn't like that," said Harry through gritted teeth. No one said anything. Muttering about fresh air, he set down his glass and left the room.

"He's just feeling guilty," Tori said slowly, watching him walk through the yard through the window. "Survivor's guilt. Molly, can we get a bandage?"

WHY IS FRED SO ATTRACTIVE IN THIS SEEN THOUGH