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4 Privet Drive | 9:02 am
Harry was most decidedly not having a good day.
It was Saturday, so of course he’d woken up at the ass crack of dawn to clean all of the bathrooms in the Dursley’s house. The chemicals Aunt Petunia made him use (that were so potent he was a bit skeptical of their legality) had given off some sort of fumes that gave him a terrible headache.
Said headache was not helped in the slightest by the lack of sleep or the fact that all he’d had to eat yesterday was a single piece of stale bread.
His current chore of making breakfast for his “family” was another factor that likely didn’t help. This was probably because he now had to deal with both his stomach trying to lead a revolt at the smell of bacon and his “family’s” “hospitality.”
And yes, Harry did in fact believe that both those words deserved quotations around them.
Harry’d had enough punishments in the past few weeks to last a lifetime. Though he did always feel that way when he was with the Dursleys. At least this year he wasn’t recovering from witnessing the death of one of his friends. No, just the near-death of many of his friends. Much better.
Fifth year had just finished, and after dragging his friends to the Department of Mysteries, fighting Death Eaters, having his mind invaded, and learning the prophecy, he’d been sent immediately “home” (oh yes, those quotations are continuing).
So while it wasn’t nearly as bad as the previous year (as long as you measure ‘bad’ by number of deaths), he did really have to question the mental health support offered by Hogwarts, or lack thereof.
“Boy,” his aunt called out, punctuating it with a slap on the back of his head (because that was a great idea while he was standing over a spitting hot pan of bacon grease), “hurry it up, would you! Duddikins will be down any minute.”
What Harry wanted to say was something along the lines of: “Well maybe if I could actually eat some of what I was making I’d go a bit faster.”
Thankfully, his tiny sliver of self-preservation decided to rear its head, and so instead he just muttered a “Yes, Aunt Petunia,” and continued working.
Harry had plated up the bacon and was working on the eggs when Uncle Vernon came downstairs. Each stair buckled under the man’s immense weight, and Harry privately wished one of them would give out, though he knew he’d be blamed if that happened.
“What are you looking at, freak?” Vernon asked, bounding over and slapping Harry upside the head, similarly to what Aunt Petunia had done, though his meaty hands hit significantly harder.
“Nothing, sir,” Harry replied, wincing in pain and looking down, hoping to avoid further antagonizing his uncle.
Harry had never been more appreciative of his aunt when she cut in, “Vernon, I know the freak is taking his time today,” she glared at her nephew, “but why don’t you sit down and try to enjoy your coffee.” She passed a mug to her husband, and he took it to his seat at the table, still grumbling about freaks.
Outside of 4 Privet Drive | 9:15 am
Sirius Black was also not having a good day. To be fair, this was the best day of his week, but it had been a pretty shitty week and an even shittier month.
He’d been heavily injured in the battle at the Department of Mysteries, and so hadn’t been able to talk with his godson like he’d wanted. He’d barely made it out of the Ministry alive, and even though he had survived, his lovely cousin Bellatrix hadn't left him unscathed. Regardless, he was quite proud of the fact that he’d sent her through the Veil of Death.
Moony had helped nurse him back to health, but he’d spent the last month bedridden and recovering from a dark curse that Bellatrix had sent his way.
That meant that he hadn’t managed to talk to his godson at all.
His godson.
The godson that he’d just witnessed get slapped around by his “caretakers.” Ha, they weren’t giving much care. With the amount of cooking and cleaning he’d seen this day alone, it seemed as though Harry was taking more care of them.
“What is this boy?!?” Sirius heard a deep voice bellow from inside the home.
He shuffled in his place by the bushes. Sirius was in his Snuffles form, and hadn’t been able to stop the whimper that escaped him when he heard a loud thwack that resounded from inside.
“I-I-I’m sorry, Uncle Vernon,” he heard his godson start, “I don-“
Thwack rang out again.
“Don’t you take that tone with me freak!” The voice bellowed, “This bacon is clearly burnt.”
Sirius whimpered again, and decided he needed to leave before he did something rash. He’d find Moony, that’s what he'd do. Moony always came up with good plans. He was the brains behind all of the Marauder’s best pranks.
Yes, that’s what he’d do. He’d go back to Moony, they’d come up with a plan, and return that evening to spring Harry from this muggle hell. It would be their best prank yet.
With that resolved, Sirius turned on his paws, and apparated back to Grimmauld Place.
The Burrow | 1:08 pm
The Weasley twins were also not having a good day. Really, most of the Weasley family wasn’t having the best of days, considering their favorite adopted family member wasn’t there.
It was now just after lunch (the best time for devious plans, as far as the Weasley twins were concerned). Fred and George had gathered all of the younger residents of the Burrow into their room for a meeting.
“Why’d you guys have to pull me away from lunch?” Ron griped. “I was just about to start on Mum’s pasta. You know I’m a grow-“
“Growing boy,” Ginny butted in. “Yes, we’ve all heard it before.” She rolled her eyes.
“What is so important that you need to call a covert meeting?” Hermione questioned.
What’s so important?” Fred started.
“Why, how could you forget our favorite friend?” George continued.
“Our perfect partner in crime?”
“The boy wonder …”
“Harry Potter!” They finished together.
“I think he prefers ‘Chosen One’ now,” Ginny added.
“At least the rest of the wizarding world prefers it for him,” Ron complained on Harry’s behalf.
“Of course,” George agreed.
“Harrikins would prefer no one ever talk about him,” Fred added.
“So what did you want to discuss about Harry,” Hermione refocused the conversation.
“Well, as we are all aware, Harrykins is spending his summer with the dreaded Dursleys,” Fred explained.
“The damn dastardly Dursleys,” George interjected, while nodding sagely.
“And so,” Fred continued, “we believe that this cannot stand.”
“No it cannot.” George added.
“Therefore, we have assembled you here to formulate a plan,” Fred said.
“Our last plan may have had a few flaws,” George acknowledged.
“Cough muggles finding a flying car unusual cough."
“But that is why we have assembled the entire group for this brainstorming session.”
“So if any of you have suggestions, please now is the time,” Fred concluded. Both twins gave small bows, as though they had just finished a performance (and really, hadn’t they?).
“I don’t see why we can’t just waltz in there, hex the muggles, take Harry and leave,” Ginny declared. “Like really, what’s stopping us?”
“Well, first underage magic laws,” Hermione pointed out.
“But those don’t apply to Fred and George,” Ginny argued.
“And second, there are laws against using hexes and curses unprovoked, especially on muggles,” Hermione continued.
Ginny slumped in response.
“Now hang on, who said this was unprovoked?” Ron questioned. “I mean, I think they’ve done a fair bit of provoking, especially to Harry.”
Hermione thought a bit about that, then shook her head. “If we were to use magic against them, it would go to court, and you know the last thing Harry wants is more attention.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Ginny asked, looking a little put out that her suggestion had been shot down.
“Well, what was wrong with your plan from last time?” Hermione asked.
“Uhhh, did you miss the flying car being spotted by muggles?” Ron reminded her.
“I mean, most of that was later when you and Harry flew it,” George defended, puffing up in pride over the fact that Hermione hadn’t completely thrown out their initial idea from years before like she had Ginny’s from just a few minutes ago.
“Not the car part of it,” Hermione said and George deflated some. “No, I mean the stealth component. We go in under the cover of darkness, grab Harry, and go.”
“And what are we going to use to get there?” Ginny questioned “It’s not like we can just fly up like you lot did with the car.”
Ron looked thoughtful for a second, and then, “Well why not?” he asked. “Fred, George, how do you guys feel about apparating us tonight to pick up our rides?”
Harry’s Room 4 Privet Drive | 8:39 pm
Back at the Dursleys, as night fell, Harry reflected on the day he’d had.
Most days were indistinguishable from each other, but today was a Saturday, and so Uncle Vernon was sadly home.
He’d tried to stay out of his uncle's way as much as possible, but alas, it was impossible to come out of a Saturday completely unscathed.
He’d been slapped around near constantly since breakfast, and the headache he’d felt earlier had yet to go away. Though he now suspected the cause was his beatings, not breathing in harsh chemicals.
Thankfully, the headache wasn’t from a lack of food. His aunt must have seen her husband’s harsh treatment that day, as she’d given him nearly half a loaf of bread after he’d finished making dinner - and sent him to his room. The bread was stale, but it was still the most he’d had to eat all week - really all that his shrunken stomach could handle at that point.
He looked at Hedwig in her cage. She longed to be set free, but with the bars over his windows, there was no way for him to send her out. She squawked a bit as he opened her cage and gave her a piece of the bread.
Looking through the bars as the sun set, Harry wondered whether this summer would ever end.
Outside of 4 Privet Drive | 9:48 pm
Outside the Dursley’s home, there were two loud, resounding cracks in the bushes.
None of the street's residents noticed the noise. Harry, Dudley, and Petunia were all in their respective bedrooms. Uncle Vernon was the only resident of the house still up and about, as he continued to watch one of his shows on the TV.
“Ouch!” a voice cried out in an attempted hushed tone (that didn’t quite meet the mark), “did you purposefully land on me, Moony?”
“No Sirius,” the ‘Moony’ in question replied.
“Then why is your butt on my face?” Sirius exclaimed from his position on the ground beneath the bushes.
Remus Lupin had in fact landed on top of Sirius, so it was a valid question.
“Well why is your face on my butt?” Remus retorted.
This too was a valid question.
“Ugh,” Sirius groaned and shoved him off.
Sirius stood and brushed himself off. “Ok, so remember the plan - we’re gonna go in, curse all the muggles, take Harry, and leave.”
Remus shook his head, “No, we agreed that cursing the muggles is a bad idea. We’re just taking Harry and going.”
Sirius looked confused for a second then nodded, “Right, right, my bad. Curses are bad.”
“Mmhmm, good job Sirius,” Remus smiled a little.
Sirius’s face was still screwed up as though he was concentrating very hard. “Right, so we’ll go in, hex all the muggles -“
“No,” Remus cried out. He then glanced around, worried that he’d been too loud. “We won’t be casting any magic on the muggles. We’re just here to get Harry.”
Just then, the two heard what sounded almost like the beating of wings. They paused in their conversation.
“Moony,” Sirius said, concerned, “I think I’ve finally lost it.”
“No Padfoot,” Remus replied, dumbfounded, “I hear the wings too.”
Neither could have predicted what they saw next: five skeletal horses carrying teenagers up to the Dursleys house.
“Pads,” Moony let out a stricken sigh, “maybe we’ve both gone mad.”
“Did you hear that?” Ginny asked.
“Shhh,” Hermione chastised from her spot atop one of the thestrals.
“How do we even know where to go?” Ron asked.
“We go to the window with the bars on it, obviously,” Hermione asserted.
“Bars?!?” Remus exclaimed and stood up from the bush he and Sirius had been hiding in.
“Ahhh!” Fred and George shrieked in unison and fell off their mounts. “What are you doing here?!?” the twins exclaimed, once they’d righted themselves.
“What are we doing here?” Sirius questioned. What are you doing here?”
“Shhh!” Ginny reminded the group.
“What are you doing here?” Sirius repeated, this time in a much quieter voice.
“Rescuing Harry!” Fred replied.
“What else would we be doing here?” George asked.
“Well you can’t be rescuing Harry?” Sirius argued. “We’re rescuing Harry!”
“Padfoot, we can all rescue Harry,” Remus defended.
Sirius pouted at this.
“Okay, so what was this you said about bars?” Remus followed up.
“Moony, I told you that Harry isn’t happy here,” Sirius huffed.
“Yes, and how does that equate to bars on the windows?”
“Well I didn’t think you needed all the specifics.”
“Specifics are the difference between ‘Harry isn’t happy’ and ‘Harry is a prisoner in his own home.’ One of those is a bit more urgent than the other.”
“Po-tay-to po-tah-to,” Sirius waved off Remus’ complaint.
“Anyways, thestrals?” Sirius hastily changed the topic of conversation to avoid Remus’ glare. “Did the Ministry teach you guys nothing?”
“Of course it taught us things,” Hermione looked a but offended. “We learned that divination can be useful, at least for setting traps.”
“And that thestrals are a reliable form of transportation,” Ron added (he was comparing them to flying cars, so was at least semi-accurate in his statement). “Oh, and that brains suck.”
“Well that’s all wonderful,” Sirius replied, “but so not the point.”
“Ummm, quick question guys,” Ginny started, raising her hand, as though she were in class. “If Sirius is here with us, then who’s that by the front door?”
The group looked towards the front door where they saw another Sirius examining the lock with two pieces or shrubbery standing behind him.
Outside of 4 Privet Drive | 9:53 pm
Nymphadora Tonks was also having a bad day. First and foremost was because some author decided that her full name needed to be included in some useless fanfiction. Like honestly, couldn't people respect her personal preferences?!?
Secondly, Bill and Charlie Weasley, who she was friends with from school, had told her earlier that day that they’d overheard that Harry Potter was being abused.
Nuh uh, that was not gonna fly in her book.
She’d spent so much of the summer before keeping guard (no Charlie, it wasn’t stalking) the boy that she felt a bit guilty. Maybe it was something she should have noticed.
Oh well, she was here to make things right now, Tonks thought as she inspected the front door.
She was using her metamorphagus skills to appear as Sirius - someone she knew Harry trusted. Then, she and the eldest Weasley boys (currently disguised as shrubbery) would take Harry to Grimmauld Place, where she was sure the real Sirius would be happy to see him - she hoped.
All of a sudden, she heard a loud “Argggh,” and felt someone tackle her to the ground.
Her auror training kicked in, and she soon flipped the thin figure so she was pinning him to the ground.
“Oh you have no idea how weird this is, Pads,” Tonks heard a voice above them say.
Glancing up, Tonks saw that Remus was standing above her and the person who’d tackled her. Glancing down, she saw that the real Sirius was the one beneath her.
“Uh,” Tonks said nervously, shifting back to her normal features, “I can explain.”
“Let me guess,” Remus smiled seeing who it was that was impersonating the other Marauder, “you found out Harry was being abused and decided to come rescue him too?”
“How did you guess?“ Bill laughed nervously and rubbed his neck. He and Charlie had both released the disguise charms on them when Tonks shifted back, assuming that the jig was up.
“It’s more popular than you might believe,” Ginny said as she landed her thestral beside the group. The others soon followed suit.
“Yeah, I can’t believe you guys didn’t notice us,” Ron expressed his disbelief.
“Oh, I know muffliato wandlessly, so I used that once we started talking to Sirius and Remus,” Hermione explained.
“Then what was with all the shushing?“ Ron asked.
“Well, maybe you’re just loud,” Hermione sniffed.
“How many of us are there?” Fred complained, referring to the number of Weasley’s that had turned out.
“What’s next? Percy falls out of the sky?” George added.
“I would never do something so undignified!” a voice called out from a distant tree. “I would float gracefully if I were to join you. But I am on Ministry watch duty with strict non-interference orders.”
“Oookayyy, soooo ignoring that, what’s your plan?” Sirius asked.
“Go in, grab Harry, and get out,” Bill declared.
“And hex any muggles that get in our way,” Charlie added excitedly.
Sirius and Ginny looked at him hopefully, while the others glared.
“Charlie,” Tonks began slowly, as though speaking to a kindergartner, “hexing muggles is wrong.”
Charlie, Sirius, and Ginny pouted, but didn’t argue.
“Okay, so we have a big group now, let’s go blow this popsicle stand,” Ron declared.
“Do you even know what that means?” Hermione questioned.
“No I do not,” Ron stated, just as confidently as his earlier declaration.
Hermione shook her head, but obviously found it endearing.
The group decided that the most experienced (oldest) wizards would fly up to Harry, magic away the bars, and take Harry with them back to their safest location, Grimmauld Place, while the others kept watch.
With that, Sirius, Remus, Bill, Charlie, and Tonks took to the skies and flew to Harry’s room.
They could see Harry through the window, but he seemed to have fallen asleep while petting Hedwig. She was there watching over Harry and grooming his hair as though he were her chick.
Hedwig's bright yellow eyes fixed on them through the window and she let out a squawk to wake Harry.
Snapping to attention, Harry looked out the window and saw the group on thestrals. He took his glasses off, cleaned them, rubbed his eyes, shook his head, then must have convinced himself that what he saw was real.
Remus made a shooing motion. After Harry’s experience with the younger Weasleys physically tearing the bars off, he quickly backed away and eyed Bill’s raised wand apprehensively.
After some fancy wandwork, Bill vanished the bars and window out of existence.
Sirius practically leapt from his thestral to climb through the window and hug Harry.
“How are you pup?” Sirius asked, loosening his grip to look at his godson.
“Wha- me? I’m good,” Harry replied, though Sirius had trouble believing him when it seemed that half his face was bruised. “What are you guys doing here?”
Just then a crash sounded downstairs.
“Ugh, I can’t believe the others couldn’t control themselves for two minutes,” Charlie griped. The other adults had climbed in through the window as well.
“Others?” Harry repeated.
“Yeah, we’re here to rescue you, Harry. Surprise!” Tonks grinned.
“And of course your friends wouldn’t want to miss out on that,” Charlie added.
“I-I don’t need rescuing,” Harry argued, refusing to make eye contact with anyone.
“Riiight,” Charlie drawled.
“Hey, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, Prongslet,” Sirius said softly. “When I was your age, I fled home and had to stay with the Potters for the summer before our last year at Hogwarts.”
Just then, a silvery otter patronus scampered in from downstairs.
It gave a quick prance around the room before letting out its message in Hermione’s voice.
“You guys are never gonna believe what’s going on downstairs -“
Slytherin Manor | 8:26 pm
Tom Riddle also wasn’t having a good day. Arguably, he hadn’t really had any good days since confronting the Potter family over a decade prior.
Just to make matters worse, at the Ministry debacle, he’d dove into Potter’s mind and found that his young adversary also had a shortage of good days in his childhood.
The boy was abused, to put it frankly. And Tom hated abuse.
Connecting with the boy had somehow increased Tom’s grasp on reality. And you bet, he was planning to look into that further, but not before focusing on the more important task of rescuing Harry Potter, and cursing some muggles in the process.
Malfoy Manor | 9:31 pm
Draco Malfoy was also not having a good day. His father was currently in Azkaban. And the Dark Lord had been calling him in for the past month to explain everything he knew about Potter.
Draco almost wished the Dark Lord would just crucio him instead. At least that punishment would be over quickly.
But no, instead, here he was. Having had the opportunity to mull over his thoughts, Draco realized that Potter was likely abused.
It was a lot of things - the baggy clothes the waif-like appearance he returned with each summer, the scars Draco had glimpsed (not that he’d been looking or anything), the things he said or didn’t say in conversation, …
So now Draco was doing something he’d never excepted.
He was going to rescue Harry Potter. And he had just the partner in crime to help him do it.
“Are you sure about this, Draco?” Severus Snape asked.
“Yeah, I’m sure.”
Outside of 4 Privet Drive | 9:56 pm
After the older group had gone to get Harry, there wasn’t much for the others to do.
There was only so much small talk they could do before the worry about their friend and this rescue sunk in.
“Do you guys think we look a little suspicious?” Hermione asked.
Hermione certainly thought they were. A group of teenagers loitering outside a house well after dark was like waving a red flag in this suburban area and yelling ‘Look at me! I’m doing something I shouldn’t be!’
“What do you mean?” Ron asked.
Fred and George shared a look. “Unlike our illustrious brother,” George started.
“We know exactly what you mean,” continued Fred.
“And, being extra prepared pranksters,”
“We have exactly the thing to help,”
“Camouflage coats!” the twins finished together.
“And what are those?” Ginny questioned.
“Why, only the perfect solution to this problem,” Fred declared.
“They’re a bit like invisibility cloaks, except they don’t exactly match what they’re in front of,” George added.
“So the charms don’t wear off nearly as quickly,”
“And they’re perfect when you just want to blend in for surface level, not in-depth searches,” George finished.
“Alright, well it doesn’t hurt,” Hermione stated, and took a coat from one of the twins.
The group put on their coats, and not a moment too soon, because just then, two loud pops rang out.
“I can’t believe I’m letting you drag me along for this,” a familiar deep voice groaned as its owner walked towards number 4 Privet Drive.
“I’m not dragging you anywhere. You’re just upset that you didn’t realize this was necessary first,” replied the second person.
“I’m ‘upset’ because this is a waste of time. Potter is treated like a prince, there’s no way he needs to be rescued from abuse.”
The two people approached the front door, and had to step into the light to do so.
The assembled Weasleys and Hermione gasped - they were shocked to see Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy here to rescue Harry.
Snape narrowed his eyes in their direction.
“Did that wall just breathe?” he drew out.
Knowing the game was up, Hermione threw her coat off. “Professor,” she started.
“Granger. Why am I not surprised?” Snape asked. “Is the rest of the gang there too?”
The others pulled off their coats and looked a little sheepish.
“What are you even doing here?” Snape pinched his nose as he barked the question.
“The same as you!” Ron declared. “We’re here to rescue Harry.”
“R-rescue Harry?” Draco repeated, nervously. “I’m not here to rescue Potter. I’m touring real estate. The Malfoy family is thinking of making a purchase.”
“In a muggle neighborhood?” Fred asked, to which Draco nodded.
“In the middle of the night?” George chimed in and Draco again nodded, though with less certainty.
Just then, a crash sounded inside.
Fred and George glanced worriedly at the house and quickly used an Alohomora on the door. They rushed inside, and the rest of the group soon followed.
Getting to the family room first, they noticed that someone had put up silencing wards, and knew something was wrong.
In the room where Vernon had previously sat watching TV, his large body now laid on the floor (the source of the loud noise). Over him stood a cloaked figure that appeared to be cackling as the cruciatus curse terrorized the fat muggle.
“Oh come on,” Ginny complained. “How come he can curse Harry’s family, and I’m not even allowed to hex them?”
The figure had obviously heard her, as it quickly turned toward them.
The entire group gasped again. Lord Voldemort stood before them.
The two Death Eaters quickly dropped to their knees in an effort to both show their respect and distance themselves from the others who were still standing.
The snake-like man dropped the silencing wards, and Vernon’s pained whimpers could be heard.
“Severus, Draco, what are you doing here?” he all but hissed.
The pair glanced at each other, and apparently agreed that Snape would speak, as he replied after much hesitation, “T-t-touring real estate, my Lord.”
Everyone stared at him in surprise.
“Is that so?” The Dark Lord asked. “And what of you?” He turned towards the others who were assembled.
“W-we’re here to rescue Harry,” Hermione said nervously.
“What a coincidence, so am I.” Voldemort stated to the shock of everyone.
“Oh man, not someone else.” Ginny griped.
“Someone else?” Voldemort questioned.
“Yeah, there’s two other groups upstairs rescuing Harry right now,” Ron agreed, “not to mention you lot.”
“So am I correct in assuming then, Severus,” Voldemort’s voice took on a dangerous tone, “that you lied to me and are, in fact, also here to rescue Harry Potter?”
Snape gulped and nodded.
“I see,” the Dark Lord nodded. “We will discuss that later. Right now, we have more pressing concerns. I believe someone wanted to hex the muggle.”
Ginny perked up at this, and Voldemort noticed.
“Ah, Miss Weasley. Why don’t you come over here. I’ll even let you use my wand,” Voldemort beckoned.
She looked nervous, but did as requested, casting her Bat Bogey Hex flawlessly despite the unfamiliar wand.
Voldemort looked impressed, then glanced appraisingly at the youngest Weasley when she went to return his wand, “I don’t think I’ve seen that hex before. Do let me know, when you’re of-age, whether you’d be interested in joining my Death Eaters.”
Ginny blushed and hurried back to her brothers.
While she had been doing this, Hermione cast a Patronus to warn the others what was happening downstairs.
“You guys are never gonna believe what’s going on downstairs. Professor Snape and Malfoy showed up outside, then, hearing noises, we all went inside to find Voldemort torturing Harry’s uncle. Apparently they’re all also here to rescue Harry!”
Harry’s Room in 4 Privet Drive | 10:01 pm
To say the group upstairs was shocked by Hermione’s message would be an understatement. They were really somewhere between floored and flabbergasted.
“To rescue me?” Harry repeated.
“Well it does seem to be the popular thing tonight,” Tonks acknowledged.
“Well if You-Know-Who is down there, just in case, you two probably shouldn’t cross paths,” Bill advised.
“Yeah, I’ll send a message back,” Remus offered.
A silvery wolf joined the otter that was fading away, and Remus relayed their message.
“Thanks for the update, we’ll take Harry to that Gloomy Old Place right away. You just try to make sure Voldemort doesn’t do too much damage to the muggles”
“to Dudley,” Harry interrupted.
“Okay, doesn’t do too much damage to Dudley, apparently the other muggles are fair game. And grab Harry’s trunk on your way out, it’s in the cupboard under the stairs.”
With that, the group packed up what little belongings Harry had, and left with the Boy-Who-Lived in hand.
(There had been much fighting over who he was going to ride with, but in the end, godfather privileges won out, so he and Sirius were sharing a thestral).
4 Privet Drive 10:17 pm
Downstairs, Voldemort finished his torture of Uncle Vernon.
Severus helped a great deal on the torture of Aunt Petunia, living out childhood revenge fantasies.
The Death Eaters did listen to Harry though, and left Dudley alone. They easily popped out the same way they'd come in.
It wasn’t until after the remaining five grabbed Harry’s trunk that Ron realized something. “Hey, if they took the thestrals, how are we going to get back home?”
The friends exchanged panicked glances.
Outside of 4 Privet Drive | 9:19 pm
Neville Longbottom was having a good day. After all, it was always a great day when he was hanging out with Luna Lovegood.
He wasn’t entirely sure what they were doing in a muggle neighborhood, but he was happy just to spend time with the younger Ravenclaw.
The two of them were currently sitting in a bush outside number 4 Privet Drive with a bowl of something called popcorn. Neville had never eaten popcorn before. His family (in addition to being semi-abusive) were very boring in their eating habits. Luna was always introducing him to new things (she had a surprising level of spice tolerance that Neville could only hope to one day emulate).
It had taken Neville embarrassingly long to realize whose house they were sitting outside of.
He wasn’t surprised by the abuse. After sharing a room for five years there weren’t that many secrets between the roommates.
He had been surprised by the sheer multitude of people who showed up, though. Luna had picked the perfect spot where they could see into the windows of the house as well as see the action happening outside.
When Professor Snape had shown up with Malfoy, Neville almost shrieked. And then he actually did shriek when Voldemort appeared inside.
All in all, it was definitely an entertaining night. He was glad Luna had brought popcorn.