Soundtrack

12. Seven Nation Army Remix (The White Stripes) by The Glitch Mob | The Goodbyes

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ROXANNE

I laid in bed for maybe an hour, maybe a bit longer. I hadn't been able to sleep very well, the thought of what was ahead-- looking for the Horcruxes, being stuck with Maxine...it was so daunting. I couldn't stand the thought of it, but I knew I didn't have a choice. The two of them, Elle and Maxine, they probably would be fine without me, anyways. I knew the only reason I was even asked to go was to keep the secret of the Horcruxes between the twins. That was one reason I had purposefully tried to keep away from everyone. I didn't want to be The Potter's best friend's twin sister. So far I had done pretty good at that, being friends with the pack helped out, too, even if it drove Mum up the walls.

I rolled over onto my side, looking over the cots in the room. Then my eyes landed on the windows, the curtains beginning to glow from the sun rise outside. I glanced around, as my bed creaked Elle and Ginny both simultaneously shifted in their bed as if they'd woken up. I paused a moment, watching them relax again before I slowly hopped out of my bed. I tiptoed over the others, and then slowly pulled open the bedroom door.

The pack hadn't had much time to talk to each other. Mother had kept them all busy, and in all honesty Hermione wouldn't bugger off. She meant well, I knew that. But I didn't really care why Dumbledore decided to leave me some rubbish textbook for a class I didn't care about.

I slowly made my way down the crooked stairs. With each big creak, I stopped and looked over my shoulder quickly to make sure I was still alone. Then I quickly hurried down the last flight, the same flight that Hermione had nearly killed Elle on when she first arrived at the Burrow in their fourth year. I couldn't help but giggle a bit at the memory, it had clearly hurt quite a bit-- Elle had been out cold. But now it was just something to laugh about.

Once I was in the clear, I slipped on a pair of shoes before pulling open the door and shutting it quietly behind me before hurrying towards the shed where Dad kept all his Muggle toys. Usually, when the pack was around, that was where we met up. We sat alongside it and just chatted. It was the one place where my mum wouldn't butt in and put us to work.

I rounded the corner of the shed when I heard Sam and Lysander already talking. Mostly about the past school year, and missing their seventh year. Then Josiah's voice would chime in, and Alexander stayed quiet. Each of them were still in their pajamas, Josiah and Alexander laid in the grass, facing the shed and Lysander and Sam sat with their backs against the building.

"You managed to get out?" Sam asked, looking up at me as a walked over and lowered myself down next to Alexander in the grass so I could sit in the sun once it got high enough in the sky.

I nodded, "I thought I woke up Elle, though," I replied. "And it was like a maze trying to get out! It's been awhile since the rooms have been that crowded."

They chuckled.

"Harry was the only one up...besides us. So we just had to worry about waking up Ron," Lysander explained.

"Which wasn't too hard." Alexander sighed, "If I didn't know any better, I would have guessed that he was under some spell."

"Food, he tires himself out eating," Sam added.

I smirked, "Yeah, he's always been like that."

My good mood slowly drained from me, like it was a liquid and the ground absorbed it from my body. I would miss this, being able to chat with them. They were missing school because there was no reason for them to go back now, in their words they 'learned better by doing than reading.' I preferred to think that it didn't mean they planned on looking for Death Eaters themselves...if that was their plan, I wouldn't be able to focus on anything. I'd just be worried about them the whole time, they were like my brothers, I couldn't just let them go.

"Everything alright, Rox?" Alexander asked as he pushed himself up so he could sit next to me while the others became emerged in another conversation.

I looked over at him, thinking for a moment. Was everything okay? Of course not. But I couldn't just change things. Yeah, I didn't want to spend who knows how long with Maxine. But I agreed to help her defeat Voldemort-- defeating Voldemort was more important than making sure I was happy myself. And, besides that, I hadn't treated Maxine fairly. I knew that, I had been...well, a bully. I knew that, but I had never intended for things to get to that point. I had always had a tendency to be a bit...blunt, outspoken, and whatever else someone might call it. Did that mean I meant it? No. But Maxine always got under my skin and I couldn't stop myself from saying something. People put themselves in danger for her and Harry last year, and she betrayed everyone.

I had even agreed with Hermione and Ginny to try to become friends with her! But I couldn't, not after what happened to Dumbledore. However, that didn't change the fact that I had still agreed to help her.

I quickly nodded after rummaging through my thoughts to make sense of them. "Yeah, just tired."

Alex raised an eyebrow, "You are rubbish at lying, Roxanne."

"No, really, just tired." I defended myself a bit too quickly. Because the group fell silent, their eyes landing on me and waiting for some sort of explanation. "Maxine just got under my skin last night..." I shrugged, "You could have died, Lysander."

"But I didn't," he replied, "I'm just fine."

I sighed, "I'm just worried about the lot of you," I said with a huff, looking at each of them. "If I lose you guys, I won't have any friends left."

Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes dramatically, "Bloody hell, Rox, you aren't our mother. You won't lose any of us."

"You don't know that, if You-Know-Who finds out where you guys are..." My voice trailed off, I may have already said too much. They didn't know I wouldn't be staying with them. "I need to go start getting ready. Fleur insists that the Muggle imperfections are what will make everything perfect," I lied. Fleur couldn't care less if I used magic to do my hair and makeup or if I did it by hand.

"The sun is barely up."

"A head start can't hurt," I replied, smirking a bit and pushed myself up from the ground. "See you guys in a bit."

I didn't look back at them when I hurried back towards the front door. However, I caught a glimpse of Ron already in the kitchen. So I made my way into the kitchen, too, and grabbed the same snack I had the night before with Elle: an apple and peanut butter.

"What are you doing up?" Ronald asked as he took his bowl of cereal to a spot at the table.

"What are you doing up?" I echoed, raising my eyebrow sharply.

Ron smirked and rolled his eyes. "Funny," he sighed, "Are you three ready to leave after the wedding?"

I frowned, I would never be ready to be stuck with Maxine. "Ready as I'll ever be, I guess..." I told him as I grabbed a knife and began to cut the apple. "What about you three?"

"Harry's anxious to get going," he replied. He stayed quiet for a moment thought, "Promise you'll try to get along with Max. We're all in a bigger war, we don't need to be worrying about you and Max trying to kill each other."

I rolled my eyes, "Ron..."

"Roxanne..." he mocked my tone and let silence fall for a bit longer.

"Yeah, alright...I promise I'll be nice."

MAXINE

I suddenly woke up with a gasp, panting and sweating. I had another dream about Voldemort. In fact, I had been having dreams about him all summer. Harry was having them as well, even though he never told me about them. He didn't have to tell me; I already knew that he was having them. It was a twin thing, really.

I sat up from my bed, looking around the room. Everyone was still asleep. I looked out the window and saw that it was still dark outside. I got out of bed, slipped my shoes on, and quietly snuck out of the room. I carefully descended down the stairs and slipped out the door. I needed to think about what the hell the six of us were planning to do. Being away from Harry for Merlin knows how long kind of worried me. I wouldn't have any contact with him or the others, especially if something happened to them. If something happened to them, Elle, Roxanne, and I would never know.

I went around to the back of the house and sat down on the grass, looking up at the stars. I never really had the chance to look at them and see how beautiful they were. I never had the time to do so. But now I did, and I was glad that I was able to see them at one of my favorite places in the world.

"The stars are beautiful tonight." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned around to see Harry standing there with a blanket.

"They are," I agreed. I looked back up at the sky as he laid the blanket down on the ground and sat down on it. I sat down beside him and we looked at the stars in silence.

"So we're going to leave right after the wedding?" I asked.

He nodded, "Right after the wedding," he repeated.

"We've never been apart for a long time, you know," I pointed out.

"It will feel different, not seeing you for a while."

"I know. I thought living with the Malfoys for three months was bad enough. Now that we're splitting up like this, we might be apart for an even longer period of time."

I didn't want this to be our last heart-to-heart conversation. But in a few hours, we would split up. None of us had a choice, but defeating Voldemort was at the top of our list.

"I don't want to fight this war without you, Harry," I said.

"You won't fight this war without me," Harry assured me. "Nothing will happen to me, I promise."

We sat there in silence for a moment until I spoke up. "I've been having dreams, Harry. They're about Voldemort."

"Me, too," he said.

"What do you think they mean?" I asked.

"I don't know," he replied, shrugging his shoulders. "Maybe they're trying to tell us something. Maybe Voldemort is after something."

"Again?" I said. "You'd think he would just go ahead and find us and kill us already."

Harry chuckled. "Always trying to be funny when there's a war on the rise."

"Well, when the darkest wizard of all time is trying to kill you so he can take over the entire Wizarding World, making jokes is the only thing I want to do right now."

"I know how you feel," he said. "I'm going to miss you making jokes to me. I'll have to live without them for a while."

"Maybe you can get Ron to tell you jokes," I suggested.

"And you can get Roxanne to listen to yours," he responded.

I shot him a look. "Not funny."

"Give her a chance, Max. She's not that bad, you know."

"I did give her a chance," I told him. "A very little one," I added with a mumble.

"Well, you two are going to have to get along now since you're leaving with her after the wedding, which is tonight."

I huffed a sigh. I knew that in order for this plan to work, I would have to settle my differences with Roxanne. I was ready to even talk to her about it. But after what she said about Voldemort killing me and Draco, I didn't want to talk to her after that, let alone look at her. She crossed the line when she brought up Draco like that. She really did hurt me.

"Harry?" I spoke up.

"Yeah?" he said.

"I don't want to say goodbye yet," I told him. "Not until tonight, at least."

He nodded his head in agreement. "Okay." Harry laid on his back and I laid down with him. "Goodnight, Max."

"Goodnight, Harry," I said back. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

We were drifting off to sleep outside, doing our best to not think about what was going to happen after the wedding was over. I wanted to see my twin brother again after this was all over. I just had to take things one step at a time.

The ones that love us never really leave us, I heard Sirius' voice in my head.

"I'll never leave you," Harry and I said at the same time before we finally closed our eyes and fell asleep under the stars.

ELLE

I woke up with the sun. As it rose, I peered out the window, balancing my head on my hand. The other girls were fast asleep, except there were three empty sleeping bags beside mine. It seemed Hermione, Roxanne, and Maxine were already gone. Even when I woke up at the crack of dawn, I was still one of the very last to get out of bed.

Something like sadness gripped my chest, but for the first time in what seemed like months, I was not afraid. But, I did feel unprepared.

"Hey, Elle," my sister's voice came in a hushed whisper and I turned to see her head popping out behind the door frame. "Follow me for a second."

A weak smile flickered across my lips, and I nodded. Dodging sleeping bodies, I hopped from blank space to blank space until I eventually made my way out of the room. Hermione watched me from the hall, rolling her eyes at my theatrics as I gave her a bow when I was in the clear.

She led me towards the hall closet and I offered her a confused eye as she pulled the door open and began rummaging through all the luggage that had been stowed away inside. All of our trunks had been tucked inside closets to provide more space for sleeping; the Burrow was small when stacked with a bunch of visitors.

She popped open the top of her trunk and began shoving her stuff aside. As I watched her, I realized that her school trunk was not filled with things you'd normally see for a student returning to Hogwarts. There were books upon books, vials of potions, a few changes of clothes - but none of them were Hogwarts robes. She'd packed for going on the run. It brought a satisfactory smile to my lips.

"I figured that you would need a few things," she sniffled, "you never are prepared, you know."

"Never prepared? You know who you're talking to?" I kept my voice low so we wouldn't wake the slumbering residents in the Burrow.

Hermione snorted lightly as she began pulling books and vials from her trunk, setting them aside. "Yeah, the witch who forgot her wand in fourth year, which ended up getting her put into a coma."

"Harsh words, 'Mione," I faked a hurt sniffle. "But, I assume you're right. I did pack some things for myself; I'm not daft, you know."

Hermione merely chuckled in response as I dragged my own trunk from the closet to show her the things I had deemed worthy enough to bring with me on the journey. "See? Extra toothpaste and some socks," I pointed towards the things as I listed them off, "Some dried fruit and other food, and--"

"That's what I'd forgot!" Hermione's eyes widened as she rubbed her hands together as if she was having an epiphany. "Where did you get the dried fruit?"

"Oh," I wiggled my brow at her, basking in the revelation that I'd done something she hadn't, "I just put a charm on some fruit in the Burrow. I have a lot, though. I've been stocking up since we got here; I wasn't sure when to stop." I sat down on the floor where Hermione was kneeling and crossed my legs, looking up at my sister. "Hermione," my voice was soft as I felt something important bubble to the surface. It was almost a realization of what we were doing, but I was aware that the full gravity of the situation had yet to hit me. "Hermione, when do you think we will be back?"

She stopped rummaging through her things, hands levitating over some lotion and a tee shirt as she glanced down at me, eyes misty. "I don't know, Elle."

A thick void filled the silence as we merely looked into each other's eyes. It was odd; we were so similar but I had no idea what could have been going through her mind at that very moment. But, I didn't need to know as she quickly enveloped me in a tightly wrapped hug, pulling me tightly against her.

"Oh, don't be so melodramatic, 'Mione," I chuckled the situation off, trying to lighten the mood as she only held me tighter. Smiling softly, I hugged her back. The sound of crying broke the smile from my face and I felt the wet tears against my shoulders as she finally pulled away, brushing excess water furiously from her eyes.

"J-Just promise me you'll be smart about what you do and where you go," Hermione sniffled, eyes red from the salty tears she had shed. "You know that you are going to have to be the brains of the operation, right?"

Furrowing my brow, I tugged on a loose strand of hair, confused. "What do you mean, 'Mione? That's your job. I'm hardly the person for that position--"

"Elle, you and I, everyone, knows that Roxanne Weasley and Max Potter do not get along. They are always at each other's throats. You're pretty much going to be the mediator between them."

Nodding, I decided that her words made logical sense, even though I didn't like the idea of being someone's therapist while also trying to save the world. "It's a lot to handle, huh?" I let out a husk of a laugh, feeling my chest sink with pressure.

"Which is why you need to be smart about things," Hermione responded, bringing us back to what she had been saying before. "Tell me you have been reading that ancestry book Dumbledore left you, right?"

Expertly, I dodged her question with a different question. "Tell me you have been reading those folklores Dumbledore gave you, right?"

"Elle, this is serious," Hermione sighed.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, realizing that this could very well be the last private moment I had with my twin. I didn't want to ruin it by getting into a pointless argument. "You're right, Hermione. No, I haven't been able to decipher why he left that for me, but I promise you that I will keep looking into it. Also, I promise you that I will be wise on the quest."

"Thank you," she sighed in relief, slouching down beside me to stare, almost blankly, into the open luggage.

After a moment of silence, I turned to look directly into my sister's eyes, being sure that she knew I was trying to be deadly serious. "You know I love you, right? Even if you are the brightest witch of our age."

"Of course," Hermione smiled at me. "I love you, too, even if you are the dumbest witch of our age."