It was Neville who fell into step beside Harry as they made their way back through the dense fog of smoke. They headed into the back bedrooms and found Charlie passed out in the second one. It looked like he'd been thrown backwards because of the ward and hit his head; there was a bloody wound.
Neville grasped his legs and Harry took his shoulders. He wished Charlie wasn't quite so burly as they lugged his body through the tent. By the time they'd gotten outside, Harry's arms ached with the strain. They placed him down on the ground less than gently but it was that or drop him. The Bubble Head charm collapsed and Harry was assaulted once again with the stench of smoke.
"Merlin!"
The twins' voices sounded in unison as they pushed their way to the front of the crowd. Fred and George stumbled towards their family, their freckled faces pale.
"What…"
"…happened?"
"Some tosspot decided to try and kill us!" Ron snapped before being overcome with a wave of coughing.
Harry stepped back as people came forward from the crowd to heal Charlie. Fred and George gathered around Ginny as Ron hovered by his still unconscious father. He glanced toward the treeline and saw a flash of red through the dark silhouettes.
The fake Auror!
Anger stole his breath.
His mind filled with one thought: to catch the bastard!
Harry ran into the trees after the guy. He was filled with rage, his heart almost bursting with it.
How could someone try and hurt the Weasleys?!
Hurt Minerva?!
Try to torture Neville?!
He crashed through a bush and almost got hit with a stream of yellow light. Harry flung himself to the ground, rolled and came up swinging.
He snapped off a reducto towards the red robed figure who laughed and dodged it – a tree shattered into splinters on the other side.
"Good but not good enough!" A purple curse shot towards him…
Harry dived forward again – and lost his glasses.
"Confrigo!" The guy yelled.
Harry bolted out of the way as the blasting curse hit the ground where he had just been sending up a shower of dirt and grass that obscured his view even more.
A second later he was hit with a cutting hex, his upper left arm slicing open and bleeding freely.
He sent a banishing charm toward the blur of red he could see and was pleased when the figure got tossed backwards.
He used the moment to get to his feet and try to get his bearings but a sudden stream of spells shot in his direction and he found himself back on the defensive, shielding desperately against a barrage of offensive curses.
"You want to play! Let's play!"
Harry dodged another spell as his shield broke apart.
"Hey! Stupefy!" Neville shouted. His spell went way wide of the target but did what Neville had wanted – it diverted attention from Harry.
"A Longbottom to play with!" The man taunted with a laugh. "How wonderful!"
A spell shot over in Neville's direction and Harry scrambled to his feet as Neville tried to evade and fell.
"There's no Grandmother to help you now!" The blur shouted. "Crucio!"
The light sped across the clearing and Harry knew he would never reach Neville in time to save him…
"Familius magicus protectus!" Harry called out furiously, raising his ring hand in Neville's direction – hoping beyond hope that the family magic could stop the Unforgiveable.
Magic rushed through Harry and it was like getting caught in a flood of warmth and power and rage…
A stream of gold shot out of his hand, arched through the air becoming the Longbottom bear…
It roared loud enough that Harry fell back on his bottom, shocked as the bear collided with the Crucio and swallowed it!
The bear landed and roared again…rearing up on its hinds paws, almost as tall as the trees.
The guy snarled a word Harry couldn't make out and disappeared. Portkey, Harry thought absently; there must have been a portkey.
Neville got to his feet and Harry staggered to his. The bear lowered itself to the ground and ambled back to them. Harry nodded an acknowledgement at the large gold beast which bumped its head into Harry as though asking for petting, stunned that it had responded to his call.
It gave a grunt, nudged Neville and disappeared.
Neville slapped Harry's shoulder and Harry winced as it jarred his injured arm.
"Gran's going to be furious," Neville said, conversationally, "that completely beat her rock thing hands down."
Harry stared in shock at Neville for a moment before be burst into giggles, within seconds the two of them were laughing slightly hysterically. Harry swiped at his eyes as the laughter started to shift to relieved tears.
"Accio glasses!" Harry caught the gold-frames as they zipped to him. He really needed to find a way to keep them on his face. "We should head back." He said putting them on, worried about the Weasleys.
A black Grim suddenly burst through the undergrowth and transformed into Sirius.
"HARRY!"
"Padfoot!"
It wasn't even a conscious decision.
Harry launched himself into Sirius's arms. Sirius caught him, hauling him into a tight hug. Harry didn't notice as Remus arrived a moment later to sling an arm around Neville.
Harry clung onto Sirius, burying his face in Sirius's damp and smoke-scented shirt.
Everything was going to be OK.
.
.
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