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cxxiii. privet drive

Tori had practically forgotten the thrill of flying on a broom. Especially since the previous year, Quidditch has been canceled. It was a clear dusk as the nine guard members took off into the sky.

The wind had begun to blow gently as the sun faded lower and lower into the horizon, darkening the city below them. Moody continued to bark out orders, being very careful of their situation. Tori took in an icy breath, letting it run through her veins before shivering.

"Having fun?" Tonks called over from the other side of Tori. Tori nodded, shivering. "I just hope we get there before we all freeze to death." Tonks chuckled, following Moody down another dive.

"Stay high!" Moody barked. "We don't want to attract any Muggle's attention."

They flew through the sky for a little bit longer until the houses began to come into better view. Tori recalled the summer of her fourth year when she had help both the twins and Ron rescues Harry. The only difference was they were in a flying car.

Slowly and on Moody's command, one by one, they circled Harry's house before landing. Moody got off his broom first, staring at the empty street with his magical eye.

"Quietly. We go in quietly." He barked, defeating his entire quiet statement. "What about the Dursley's?" Tori asked out loud. "They're not a big fan of wizards..."

"Oh don't worry," Tonks replied with a mischievous grin Tori had seen on the twins far to many times. "I've taken care of it."

"Alohamora," Lupin whispered, hearing the lick on the door click open. The group slowly walked into the dark house, squinting. Tonks loudly tripped over a can of umbrella's causing Tori to almost fall on top of her.

"Tonks! Silvers!" Moody hissed. There was a sound of new footsteps coming down the stairs and a silhouette of a fifteen-year-old boy appeared with his wand ready.

"Lower your wand, boy, before you take someone's eye out," Moody growled.

"Professor Moody?" Harry's voice called with uncertainly. "I don't know so much about "Professor"," Moody said, "Never got round to much teaching, did I? Get down here, we want to see you properly."

Harry lowered his wand slightly but did not relax his grip on it, nor did he move. "It's all right, Harry. We've come to take you away." Lupin coaxed.

"P-Professor Lupin?" He said disbelievingly. "Is that you?"

"Why are we all standing in the dark?"
said Tonks. "Lumos."

Her wand-tip flared, illuminating the hall with magical light. Harry blinked a few times. Tori grinned at him.

"Oooh, he looks just like I thought he would,' said Tonks, brushing her short spiky hair that was a violent shade of violet. "Wotcher, Harry!"

"Yeah, I see what you mean, Remus," said a bald black wizard standing furthest back; he had a deep, slow voice and wore a single gold hoop in his ear. Tori recognized him from the few times she had seen him entering the house. "He looks exactly like James."

"Except the eyes," said a wheezy-voiced, silver-haired wizard at the back. "Lily's eyes."

"Hiya, Harry." Tori grinned at the boy.

"Are you quite sure it's him, Lupin?" Mad-Eye growled. "It'd be a nice lookout if we bring back some Death Eater impersonating him. We ought to ask him something only the real Potter would know. Unless anyone brought any Veritaserum?"

"Harry, what form does your Patronus take?" Lupin asked.

"A stag," Harry replied nervously.

"That's him, Mad-Eye," Lupin replied.

Very conscious of everybody still staring at him, Harry descended the stairs, stowing his wand in the back pocket of his jeans as he came.

"Don't put your wand there, boy!" roared Moody. "What if it ignited? Better wizards than you have lost buttocks, you know!"

"Who d'you know who's lost a buttock?" Tonks asked Mad-Eye interestedly. "I'd like to meet them." Tori chuckled.

"Never you mind, you just keep your wand out of your back pocket!" growled Mad-Eye. "Elementary wand-safety, nobody bothers about it anymore." He stumped off towards the kitchen. "And I saw that," He added irritably, as Tori rolled her eyes towards the ceiling.

Lupin held out his hand and shook Harry's. "How are you?" He asked, looking closely at Harry.

"F-fine... I'm — you're really lucky the Dursleys are out..." Harry mumbled.

"Lucky, ha!" Tonks nudged Tori. "It was me who lured them out of the way. Sent a letter by Muggle post telling them they'd been short-listed for the All-England Best Kept Suburban Lawn Competition. They're heading off to the prize-giving right now... Or they think they are."

"Oh, I like you." Tori grinned. Harry chuckled, "We are leaving, aren't we?" He asked. "Soon?"

"Almost at once," said Lupin, "we're just waiting for the all-clear."

'Where are we going? The Burrow?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Not The Burrow, no," said Lupin, motioning Harry towards the kitchen; the little knot of wizards followed, all still eyeing Harry curiously. "Too risky. We've set up Headquarters somewhere un-detectable. It's taken a while..."

Mad-Eye Moody was now sitting at the kitchen table swigging from a hip flask, his magical eye spinning in all directions, taking in the Dursleys' many labor-saving appliances.

'This is Alastor Moody, Harry,' Lupin continued, pointing towards Moody.

"Yeah, I know," said Harry uncomfortably. Tori understood why. It felt odd to be introduced to somebody you thought you'd known for a year.

"And this is Nymphadora —"

"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus," Tonks shuddered, "it's Tonks."

"Nymphadora Tonks, who prefers to be known by her surname only," finished Lupin.

"So would you if your fool of a mother had called you Nymphadora," muttered Tonks.

"And this is Kingsley Shacklebolt"'— he indicated the tall black wizard, who bowed — "Elphias Doge"— the wheezy-voiced wizard nodded — "Dedalus Diggle" —

"We've met before," squeaked the excitable Diggle, dropping his violet-colored top hat.

"— Emmeline Vance" — a stately-looking witch in an emerald green shawl inclined her head — "Sturgis Podmore" — a square-jawed wizard with thick straw-colored hair winked — "Hestia Jones." A pink-cheeked, black-haired witch waved from next to the toaster. "And well, you know Tori."

Harry inclined his head awkwardly at each of them as they were introduced. He brightened up a bit when Tori came over and patted him on the back. "Miss me, Little Bro?"

"Only a bit." Harry joked.

"A surprising number of people volunteered to come and get you," said Lupin, the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

"Yeah, well, the more the better," Moody said darkly. "We're your guard, Potter."

"We're just waiting for the signal to tell us it's safe to set off,"'Lupin sighed, glancing out of the kitchen window. "We've got about fifteen minutes."

"Very clean, aren't they, these Muggles?"
called Tonks, who was looking around the kitchen with great interest. "My dad's Muggle-born and he's a right old slob. I suppose it varies, just as it does with wizards?"

'Er — yeah,' said Harry. "Look" — he turned back to Lupin — "what's going on, I haven't heard anything from anyone, what's Vol — ?"

Several of the witches and wizards made odd hissing noises; Tori flinched. Dedalus Diggle dropped his hat again, and Moody growled, "Shut up!"

"What?" Harry asked.

We're not discussing anything here, it's too risky," said Moody, turning his normal eye on Harry. His magical eye remained focused on the ceiling. "Damn it," He added angrily, putting a hand up to the magical eye, "it keeps getting stuck — ever since that scum wore it — "

And with a nasty squelching sound much like a plunger being pulled from a sink, he popped out his eye.

"Mad-Eye, you do know that's disgusting, don't you?" Tonks made a grossed out face as she had just eaten one of the twins' Puking Pastille.

"Get me a glass of water, would you, Harry," Moody requested. Harry crossed to the dishwasher, took out a clean glass, and filled it with water at the sink, still watched eagerly by the band of wizards. Tori had never seen a Muggle dishwasher before.

"Cheers,"' Moody thanked, when Harry handed him the glass. He dropped the magical eyeball into the water and prodded it up and down; the eye whizzed around, staring at them all in turn. "I want three hundred and sixty degrees visibility on the return journey."

"What happens if he loses that eye?" Tori whispered to Tonks, who held back a laugh. "Why? You want to steal it from him?"

"No," Tori said quickly. "I want to live to see my seventh year."

"How're we getting — wherever we're going?" Harry asked.

"Brooms,' Lupin replied, glancing out the kitchen window again. "Only way. You're too young to Apparate, they'll be watching the Floo Network and it's more than our life's worth to set up an unauthorized Portkey."

"Remus says you're a good flier," " Kingsley Shacklebolt said in his deep voice.

"He's excellent, " said Lupin, who was checking his watch. "Best seeker on the Gryffindor Quidditch team." Tori chimed in as Tonks stared at her. "As good as Charlie?"

"Anyway," Lupin said, reminding them of their task. "You'd better go and get packed, Harry, we want to be ready to go when the signal comes."

"I'll come and help you," said Tonks brightly. Tori nodded "Me too."


tonks is so iconic

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