And apologies, Harry addressed Lupin again.

"Will George be okay?"

All Lupin's frustration with Harry seemed to drain away at the question.

"I think so, although there's no chance of replacing his ear, not when it's been

cursed off –"

There was a scuffling from outside. Lupin dived for the back door; Harry leapt

over Hagrid's legs and sprinted into the yard.

Two figures had appeared in the yard, and as Harry ran toward them he realized

They were Hermione, now returning to her normal appearance, and Kingsley, both

clutching a bent coat hanger, Hermione flung herself into Harry's arms, but Kingsley

showed no pleasure at the sight of any of them. Over Hermione's shoulder Harry saw him

raise his wand and point it at Lupin's chest.

"The last words Albus Dumbledore spoke to the pair of us!"

"'Harry is the best hope we have. Trust him,'" said Lupin calmly.

Kingsley turned his wand on Harry, but Lupin said, "It's him, I've checked!"

"All right, all right!" said Kingsley, stowing his wand back beneath his cloak,

"But somebody betrayed us! They knew, they knew it was tonight!"

"So it seems," replied Lupin, "but apparently they did not realize that there would

be seven Harrys."

"Small comfort!" snarled Kingsley. "Who else is back?"

"Only Harry, Hagrid, George, and me."

Hermione stifled a little moan behind her hand.

"What happened to you?" Lupin asked Kingsley.

"Followed by five, injured two, might've killed one," Kingsley reeled off, "and we

Saw You-Know-Who as well, he joined the chase halfway through but vanished pretty

quickly. Remus, he can –"

"Fly," supplied Harry. "I saw him too, he came after Hagrid and me."

"So that's why he left, to follow you!" said Kingsley, "I couldn't understand why

he'd vanished. But what made him change targets?"

"Harry behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike," said Lupin.

"Stan?" repeated Hermione. "But I thought he was in Azkaban?"

Kingsley let out a mirthless laugh.

"Hermione, there's obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has

hushed up. Travers's hood fell off when I cursed him, he's supposed to be inside too. But

what happened to you, Remus? Where's George?"

"He lost an ear," said Lupin.

"lost an -- ?" repeated Hermione in a high voice.

"Snape's work," said Lupin.

"Snape?" shouted Harry. "You didn't say –"

"He lost his hood during the chase. Sectumsempra was always a specialty of

Snape's. I wish I could say I'd paid him back in kind, but it was all I could do to keep

George on the broom after he was injured, he was losing so much blood."

Silence fell between the four of them as they looked up at the sky. There was no

Sign of movement; the stars stared back, unblinking, indifferent, unobscured by flying

friends. Where was Ron? Where were Fred and Mr. Weasley? Where were Bill, Fleur,

Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Mundungus?

"Harry, give us a hand!" called Hagrid hoarsely from the door, in which he was

Stuck again. Glad of something to do, Harry pulled him free, the headed through the

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 606