Crack!
Theo snapped to attention at the first pop of apparation.
Nobody apparated directly inside the house, aside from Harry, they always did it on the lawn. It was a rule of Snape's, one that was only broken during missions or emergencies.
When Harry threw open Theo's bedroom door and tossed his red pocketknife to Theo with a closed off expression on his face, Theo knew it was an invasion.
"Take Rosie and go," Harry snapped. "Don't tell me where."
Theo nodded and was already summoning his and Rose's emergency bags, ones he had packed just for the situation.
"You'll find me after?" Theo checked while he pocketed Harry's knife and snatched his daughter from her crib, inadvertently making her wake with a cry.
"Someone will. Fuckin go, Theo."
Theo rolled his eyes while he clutched Rose tightly to his chest and turned on the spot, his destination clear in mind.
Harry was such a dick on occasion.
*****
Susan sent her patronus to Tonks while she ran for Luna's room and found her in the middle of making copies of their paper.
"Grab it and go," Susan said. She could already hear fighting happening downstairs, Luna needed to leave immediately. "Harry said to take this," she added as threw Harry's cloak to her.
Luna looked up and her eyes were wide even while she easily caught the cloak and tossed it over her shoulder.
"Where do I go?" Luna asked, her voice shaking.
"Anywhere," Susan said. She held a hand up when Luna opened her mouth. "Don't tell me where, I'm crap at occlumency."
It was a firm rule they all had- everyone was meant to have a designated safe place, but they weren't allowed to tell each other where it was. Then if one of them were ever captured, the others would be fine.
"You've got to go, Lue," Susan stressed when her friend wasn't moving quick enough.
Luna started waving her hands around, impressively shrinking down the machines that were being used to print their paper.
"You'll find me soon?" Luna asked in a small voice, the small voice that told Susan that Luna wasn't up for another fight - not like Susan was.
Susan was ready to spill blood to make up for her unforgivable mistake.
"Always," Susan assured Luna. "Go, now."
Susan waited ten more precious seconds while Luna grabbed what all she could and shoved it in her sparkling bag before she turned on her bare feet and disappeared.
And then Susan threw herself down the stairs with her wand drawn, ready to fight.
*****
George was debating on going and apologizing to Harry. On the one hand, Harry saved his life and George usually liked Harry. On the other hand, when George couldn't see and couldn't be drawn in by Harry's friendly smiles and charming features, Harry felt cold.
Also, George felt good about blaming Harry for the darkness he was always going to be plagued with and the fact that he would never walk again…
… even though George knew it was his fault.
He'd been goofing around, not taking their mission seriously (who could take anything seriously when Harry was running around as a blood soaked polar bear?!) and he fell from his broom.
George knew it was his fault, but it was Harry's fault that he didn't just let him die.
Everyone had been tense though, sick of being locked up, and it had gotten to George hard. Not that it was a good reason to be a berk to Fred's husband though. Harry was George's brother, and George used to pride himself on being a good brother to all his siblings… even the ones that he didn't bloody understand, like Percy.
Which led George to deciding to man up and apologize to Harry just before a crack of apparation happened right in front of his chair. George didn't know who it was, but it didn't seem like someone he knew.
"You wouldn't attack a blind guy in a wheelchair, would you?" George asked with a smile when they didn't speak. "No? Alright then."
George's fingers found the nifty little trigger that Charlie and Susan installed for him; it had been hell to get it working right, but when George pressed the tiny button just beneath the armrest and both his body and his chair went completely invisible, he knew the work had been worth it.
"Just so you know, I'm not attacking you because I'm jealous of your legs, I'm doing it because I don't know who you are or why you're in my brother's bloody house," George said cheerily as he drew his wand and began firing spells.
*****
Tonks had been lounging in the kitchen with the elves, trading quips and taste-testing macarons when the crack of apparation rang in her ears.
Not once… not twice…
Three… four… five… six…
The seventh person appeared directly in the kitchen, wearing the red robes of the DMLE and the white mask of the Death Eaters.
Even with all the instincts and reflexes drilled in her by auror training, Tonks didn't grab her wand nearly as quickly as Mavis grabbed a filet knife.
"STRANGERS IN MASTER'S HOME!" he cried. "ATTACK!"
Tonks leaped off the counter and began firing spells while the masked figure returned them with gusto.
"KILL! KILL! KILL!"
Blippy joined Mavis and the two of them dodged spells and tried to actually stab the attacker with their kitchen knives.
Harry had the weirdest bloody elves that Tonks had ever met in her life.
*****
"You leaving or fighting?"
Fred hadn't been sure what the cracks from downstairs were, but he was certain when Harry stuck his head in the room that Fred had stolen from Neville to use as his own lab.
The shop couldn't be reopened until after the war, but inventory couldn't be refilled instantly, magic or not.
"Fighting," Fred said confidently. He grabbed his wand from beside him and locked the door on his way out, running full-speed to keep up with his husband. "Who broke the taboo?" he asked, guessing that was the only way anyone could break in Harry's house.
"Doesn't matter," Harry said shortly, which probably meant Luna. Harry spun on the landing and grabbed Fred by the front of his shirt, jerking him down for a quick kiss.
"If you die then I will bring you back to life and kick your arse," Harry said, his eyes flashing with that heady mixture of danger and power that Fred was helpless against. "Yeah?"
"Yeah," Fred breathed. "Kill or contain?"
"Kill," Harry said. "Don't worry, Azkaban isn't taking new inmates."
"Excellent," Fred said. He leaped over the bannister to land in the living room ahead of Harry, a fight already broken out between what looked like half a dozen DMLE-Death Eaters and Snape and Malfoy.
Fred stood in front of Harry, knowing he could only block his husband for a second, and sent a cutting curse at the stomach of the closest invader.
And then he heard a voice that caused Fred to leave Harry to fight alone and dash to the dining room because it seemed as if his twin was still fighting instead of getting his blind-arse out of the line of fire.
Bloody Gryffindor.
*****
Severus was unsure who broke the taboo, and he could not ponder the problem as he was locked in a duel with his back to Lucius and they both threw spells as quickly as they could.
"Clear the miscreants out," Severus called out curtly when he saw Harry sprint by, leading three death eaters on a chase. Any chase Harry led someone on would undoubtedly end in death.
"You do it, I'm busy," Harry called back before disappearing in the kitchen.
"I hate him," Severus sighed just before slitting the throat of the death eater before him.
"Our lives would be simpler if that were true," Lucius said. Severus ground his teeth down when continuing pops indicated more reinforcement- undoubtedly called once the Dark Lord was informed precisely—
"Son of a bitch," Severus snarled quietly. Their best recourse was to flee, fighting the full might of the Ministry of Magic with the Dark Lord leading them would end in all their deaths.
"Get the brats out," Severus told Lucius. He sent another poorly aimed curse at an opponent before turning on his heel and running.
"SEVERUS!" Lucius yelled. Severus ignored him, a much more important matter at stake.
If the Dark Lord was going to arrive, the last thing they needed was for him to find their research and destruction of his horcruxes.
With Severus' luck, he would only make more before they could end him.
*****
"It's okay, it'll be okay…" Theo whispered while he bounced her in his arms. Theo didn't know if he spoke to Rose or himself though, because they were both crying rather loudly.
Theo took Rose to the safe house Harry had warded for him- Rose's grandparents home.
"Your mother grew up here," Theo said while he walked the halls and touched the photos of Hermione on the walls. Hermione had left her home as it was, in the hopes that her parents could be found after the war…
When they met their granddaughter…
When they saw Hermione reach all her goals…
It was a kindness that they were in Australia, blissfully unaware that they once had a brilliant daughter named Hermione. Even if they never got to meet Rose, they also never had to live through the pain of knowing their daughter was gone.
Theo shifted Rose in his arms so he could hold her and touch his fingertips to where Hermione grinned at them through a photograph.
For just a moment, Theo could feel like he was touching them both.
"Your mother loved you so much," Theo breathed. He had to blink away the tears in his eyes to be able to see Hermione's face clearly. "And we love her so much."
Rose stopped crying and Theo liked to think her brown eyes were blinking right at her mother.
*****
"I'm taking you to Mum," Fred scowled at his twin. "Idiot."
George grinned even while he backed his chair up and threw a snapping ducky that survived the bombing of their shop at an incoming attacker. The rubber duck toy stretched its beak open and bit in the side of the neck of the person it hit, leaving them to scream just before Fred shot them.
It was technically Harry's gun, but as Harry preferred muggle bullets and Fred wanted to test the cursed bullets, he didn't mind loaning it out.
"Did it work?" George asked gleefully. His blue eyes were wide and unfixed as always, but there was a spark in them that had been missing since his accident.
Fred begrudgingly laughed, impressed with the aim of a blind guy.
"Yeah, you arse, it worked. C'mon," Fred grabbed the handlebar of George's chair. "Let's get you to Mum before you start throwing toys at the Minister."
George laughed, a real laugh, and Fred shook his head. If nobody got hurt, the ambush might almost be worth hearing George laugh again.
*****
Narcissa ran from room to room, ensuring that all the children and the various guests of her youngest cousin's home were gone.
It was only a pause, a momentary pause, in the doorway of the room that her Draco had shared with Ron…
Narcissa sighed and continued clearing the rooms; she quite missed her son more than usual. It was good that he was at school, not involved in the war happening outside the castle, but… but he also wasn't writing much and Narcissa worried for him.
Ever since he befriended the youngest Weasley boy, Draco had developed a terribly endearing habit of following his friends in the most reckless of situations (Narcissa would never forget the basilisk) and she worried.
Not as much as Severus likely did for his son though… Narcissa also paused in Harry's room and eyed a box on his bed. There was nothing visibly special about the box, it was a simple wooden box with a lid and a silver handle. It was the way that she could sense magic pouring off it that gave her pause.
If Harry had chosen to go to such lengths to keep the contents of the box safe, then Narcissa should take it for him.
Merlin only knew when they would be able to return.
*****
"See?!" Harry hissed irritably. "That's loyalty, you damned lazy snake!"
Stevie lifted his head from the ground and flicked his tongue out curiously while he watched Sevvie dig his claws in the head of a death eater with a mocking hoot.
"Foolish bird. When it dies, may I finally feast on its corpse?" Stevie hissed disdainfully.
Harry finished off the bloke that Sevvie injured with a lazy green spell and then scowled at Stevie.
"Quit trying to fuckin' eat Sevvie. He's your—"
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
"SPEAKER!"
Harry spun around, shocked that one of Timmy's followers would try to kill him, and dodged a spell that never got near him.
With a single furious hoot, Sevvie flew down directly in the path of the light and then fell from the sky with a final soft sound that shattered Harry's chest.
"SEVVIE!"
Harry screamed and his only thought was to destroy every person in the yard - all those who thought they'd come and capture Harry for their Master - particularly the one who tried to kill Harry when his back was turned.
Accio Sevvie and Stevie.
As soon as Harry had his owl- his first pet, his first gift from Sev… his baby owl with wide and unblinking green eyes… - in his grasp, he turned on the spot and left Invisibility Way behind.
*****
Luna's poor Magnus whimpered and shook on her shoulder, just as unhappy as Luna was.
"Come here, darling," she cooed up at her meerkat. "Let me hold you."
Magnus scampered down in Luna's arms quickly and let her rock him like a baby while she watched Harry's penguins waddle down on the pebbled beach outside Shell Cottage.
The penguins were so sweet as they snuggled together down on the ground. One of the penguins had its head tucked in the crook of the other penguins shoulder and it was sweet enough to bring a tear to Luna's eye.
"I miss Draco," she told Magnus quietly.
It was cold outside, freezing really, but Luna was warm enough with Draco's knitted jumper on and Magnus cuddled to her chest. Luna didn't like the cold, everything was worse in the winter, but it was nearly Christmas and Luna could wait until Christmas.
The boys came back at Christmas, Harry would be happier at Christmas, everyone would live until Christmas.
And after Christmas maybe they would end the war and Harry would find a way to live.
Right? Luna asked the nargles.
The nargles laughed.
*****
Tonks had tears streaming down her face when she left the kitchen to go out the back door, finally able to follow Sev's kid.
She really hoped if anyone saw her crying that they thought she was sad or something because it would be morbid to admit that she had been laughing. But how often did someone get to watch six mad house-elves stab a trio of wizards to death?!
Tonks skid to an immediate stop the instant she was out the back door and she had to blink several times to comprehend what it was she was seeing. Once she was sure, she turned around and started retching up all the sweets she'd been taste-testing only fifteen minutes ago.
Never in her career… never in her life had Tonks seen anything as grotesque and horrifying as the back garden of Invisibility Way.
There was a scorched circle of the yard, a huge nearly kilometer area of blackened grass. And filling the area was blood… blood and body parts.
The scent of smoldering earth and blood permeated up through Tonks' nostrils and would cling to her skin for the rest of her life.
It was the kind of destruction that only Harry could have caused and only Sev could fix.
*****
Susan ran in Snape's office with her wand drawn and the same cutting curse that took her arm pouring from her mouth.
"You would use my own spell against me?" The figure that Susan aimed at turned around and blocked her spell with a nearly discernible twitch of their wand.
Susan's thoughts of driving the Death Eaters away before they could hurt anyone slowed to a halt as her stomach dropped low.
"Your spell?" she repeated. "I thought… but…?"
Snape stared impassively at Susan for a moment while packing books in a briefcase and then all at once, his eye left twitched.
"Leave," Snape said, his tone lacking any true bite. There was something shining in his eyes, something Susan liked to think was remorse.
"Who… did you design that spell?" Susan asked him, ignoring his order. "You? Not- not Bellatrix or Tim—"
"Do not say the name," Snape snapped. The softness in his expression hardened and Susan narrowed her eyes at him.
"Have you never done something you regret?" Snape demanded. "Never, Miss Bones?"
"Bitch."
"Fuck you," Susan spat. "You walk around here, judging us, judging Harry, and you designed that spell? IT TOOK MY ARM, SNAPE!"
"And they will take your life if you do not leave now," Snape said, turning his back to her. "When you have traveled a single step in my shoes, you may judge how I walk around."
In Susan's sickening fury, she sent another sectumsempra at Snape's back before she appeared away to her safe place.
The spell never would have hit Snape, but damn if Susan didn't want it to.
*****
Fred barely arrived at Grimmauld Place with George before a bunch of blood soaked house-elves appeared around them.
"George, close your eyes," Fred said in a mock whisper. "We're surrounded by miniature Harry's."
"Sounds like your dream," George snorted. "Everyone else's nightmare though."
"Mister George should not be calling Master Harry a nightmare," Mavis scolded George. Mavis waved a hand and cleaned all the elves of blood before blinking up at Fred. "Should Mavis be going and collecting Master Harry's friends now?" he asked politely.
"You know where they are?" Fred asked him. Mavis bobbed his head and smiled widely.
"Yes, yes, Mavis does!" he said excitedly. "Master Harry is making everyone tell Mavis their hidey spots so Mavis can be trusted to help them!"
Fred grinned fondly at how happy Mavis was to be trusted with the safety of Harry's friends.
"Alright, Mavis, go ahead," Fred said. "And the rest of you lot… would you mind finding Mum? Let her know we're here?"
"FIND MISTER FRED'S MUM!" Blippy yelled with a shining silver knife held high.
"FIND MISTER FRED'S MUM!" The other elves echoed.
Fred's eyebrows were high on his forehead when he watched the elves take off on their task, all of them headed toward their tasks.
"I'd try and describe to you what that looked like, but I dunno that there are words," Fred said.
"Oh, there's words," George disagree. "Just say: 'Harry's madness is contagious and even the elves have caught it'."
"Harry's madness is contagious and even the elves have caught it."
*****
Mavis remembered when he made a bad, very bad, mistake and broke his poor Master Harry's heart.
Mavis also remembered when he met his Harry…
Harry was smaller, much smaller, and Mavis liked him immediately. Until Master Harry paid for Mavis and then tried to give Mavis clothes.
Mavis had cried big fat tears while he pulled his ears and begged for another chance.
"Mavis… I ain't tryin' to insult ya," New Master Harry said with a twang that Mavis liked. There was a sad look in Harry's eyes and it made Mavis cry even harder.
"I just don't wanna own no one, do I? I wanna talk to ya, ask ya about elf stuff."
"Mavis won't tell you ANYTHING!" Mavis cried. "Mavis won't be telling Master Harry nothing if he does not order him to!"
Master Harry sighed and rolled his eyes.
"You really won't answer my bloody questions if I give ya a sweater?" he asked as he shook a sweater at Mavis that Mavis dodged carefully.
"No," Mavis pouted. "Because then Mavis will be a free elf," he shuddered in horror, "and won't do anything you ask."
"Fine! Fine!" Master Harry threw the sweater on the floor and stomped a red trainer on it. "Quit calling me master, it's fuckin' weird, ain't it? Let's just… you can be my acquaintance elf."
Mavis pondered the word over slowly in his head.
"Acquaintance?" Mavis asked. He peered at Master Harry hopefully. "And Mavis will not be being freed?"
"I'm free, so you're free, yeah?" Master Harry said, nodding affirmatively at his own question. "'Kay, first question… where d'you get clothes from cause you ain't followin' me around in that nasty rag. If I got new clothes that ain't trash, you're gettin' new clothes too."
And Mavis saved Master Harry from the nasty snake and he always appeared when Master Harry called for him.
Mavis was a good elf, even if he made a bad, very bad, mistake one time.
Mavis was a good friend to his Harry. And Master Harry was Mavis' very best friend.
*****
Theo packed some of Hermione's things in a box while he waited out the fighting with Rose.
Even if Hermione would be scowling down at him, her nose crinkled up so cutely, Theo wasn't focused on her beloved library. Instead, Theo carried Rose around on his chest while he took jumpers and shirts—
The purple shirt with a terrifying black and white cartoon mouse on it that Hermione said she wore the day she found out she was a witch.
The jumper Hermione wore when Theo kissed her for the first time.
A flowy white blouse that Hermione wore on the holiday that Theo went along on, the one where he knew that he loved her.
Theo would come back one day for the books and other mementos, the things Theo could pass on to their daughter. But it made Theo feel comforted to take some of Hermione's clothes with him when Mavis eventually appeared and told him the fighting was over.
Hermione was gone and there was nothing Theo could do about it. But Theo had their daughter and he had his brother.
Even when Theo wasn't able to see it, he'd never been left alone to flounder in the dark.
And Hermione Rose Nott would never be alone either.
*****
Severus hardly needed to count the others to know that there was one missing from their group.
No sooner had Severus apparated from Invisibility Way to Black's ancestral home than he knew that Harry would not be there. Nymphadora was there, Lucius and Narcissa were fetched by a house elf. The miscreants all managed to leave their prior home unscathed and arrive at Grimmauld Place.
And Harry was, once again, absent.
"Where is Harry?" Severus asked, looking toward Theodore and Frederick. Susan had her back to Severus, but he presumed that the girl was not so juvenile to withhold information if she knew it over a spell that she herself used indiscriminately. When they both shook their heads, mystified, Severus calmed himself enough to conjure his patronus.
"Send me a message or appear at your husband's side immediately," Severus said, glancing wryly at the tracked ring that Frederick wore. "Your misfits are all accounted for."
Severus sent his fox off to find the boy who inspired it when Theodore cleared his throat.
"Harry can't actually send a message," he said, staring intently down at his daughter. "He's not been able to cast a patronus for a while."
Severus inclined his head at Theodore; he had not known that, but was unsurprised. Harry had been unable to cast a patronus before he began his mood-stabilizing potions as well.
"Very well, then he should appear here shortly."
"In the meantime, why don't I get some tea started?" Molly Weasley offered with a shaking smile. She seemed unable to take her hand off George's head and Severus found he could empathize with the physical need to reassure oneself that their child was safe.
"Sit, relax. I'll scrounge up some refreshments," Molly insisted. She pressed a swift kiss to the top of her son's head and then turned to the kitchen.
"I'll help," Nymphadora said at once. She squeezed Severus' hand briefly then bound off with Narcissa and Molly to fuss about in the kitchen. Lucius found his way to Severus' side and made a show of looking around the Black Family Tapestry.
"Did Potter purposefully break the taboo?" he murmured with his back to the others.
Severus watched Theodore closely as he sat down and began pulling a bottle and nappy for his daughter from a pink bag decorated with golden unicorns.
"No," Severus said with certainty. "I would say that while Harry was not displeased with the fight, he would not have purposefully held it in his own home."
Lucius nodded slowly. "Then where is he?"
Severus clenched his wand in his hand and grit his teeth for a moment.
"That is the question, is it not?"
*****
"Your misfits are all accounted for."
Harry flashed a smile when the fox dissipated; Sev would tell Harry the most pressing news first.
Everyone was fine and they were together somewhere. Harry didn't know where and he didn't want to know.
They had their jobs, Harry had his.
And it had been stupid to stay with the others for so long; Harry had always worked better on his own.
Harry buried Sevvie in a grave at Spinner's End - Sevvie deserved a place of memorial just as nice as any of Harry's other friends - and then stood up and brushed the dirt off his jeans.
No more delays. No more waiting around.
Harry needed to get the tiara, get the goblet, get to the finish line.
Timmy kept winning battles, but Harry's gang would win the war, with or without Harry.