In the room were several members of the Order that Harry recognized. Tonks and Remus were sitting next to each other at the table. Every so often they would speak to one another in hushed tones. Emmeline Vance was also sitting at the table across from Hestia Jones. The two were mostly quiet, but would catch each other's eyes every once in awhile. Dedalus Diggle and Elphias Doge were the only other two occupants of the room.
Mrs. Weasley shook her head and approached the owl that had landed on the back of one of the chairs at the table, holding its leg out to her with a note attached. She reached out to untie the letter, then turned her body away as she peered down at the envelope. Harry took her moment of distraction to fly up into a corner of the room on top of a cabinet, which left him shrouded in shadow. He hoped that nobody else was paying attention to his presence. His black feathers ought to blend right in; it was only his eyes that he was worried might give him away. So Harry closed his eyes as he waited somewhat impatiently for some news.
Mrs. Weasley, meanwhile, was turning the envelope over in her hands unsure if she wanted to read it right away or save it for later. On the one hand, it would be nice to read what her daughter had to say. It wasn't all that often that she received owls from any of her children, much to her chagrin, but she cherished each letter that was sent. She had no doubt she would love to hear what Ginny had to say. On the other hand, she was incredibly distracted at the moment with everything going on that night, and she wasn't sure now was really the time to be reading the letter. Perhaps it would be better to save it for later.
She was still absorbed in her thoughts, absently fumbling with the envelope, when the fire turned green, and a disembodied head appeared in the fire. "Diagon Alley!" it shouted. Harry's eyes shot open at the sudden sound, as everybody else shot out of their chairs. "It looks like a full assault. We need all the backup we can get." The voice sounded somewhat frantic.
"Right, you heard the man," Lupin took over. "Everyone grab hold of the tea kettle." Everyone did as he ordered, except Molly Weasley, who was, as he guessed, remaining behind. Remus took a moment to look into all their faces before he said, "Activate." There were several items left out of place on the table, Harry noticed, as he surveyed the room. They must have had several different portkeys set up for all the obvious places where an attack might take place. In a flash, Mrs. Weasley found herself alone in the room.
Harry was just about to launch himself out the window when the fire erupted in green sparks again and a different voice shouted. Only this time the voice shouted a different location entirely. "Hogsmeade! Over a dozen Death Eater's just apparated in from what we can see. We need back up as soon as possible."
Molly once again found herself clutching her chest. "No," she said simple, resignedly. "They all left. Diagon Alley… a full assault."
"Shit!" the voice announced, then disappeared entirely. Harry didn't stick around to hear any more. He was already zooming out of the window. He flew a bit away from the house into another alley, reverted back to human form, and apparated to the outskirts of Hogsmeade, as he had done so often the previous summer.
When he arrived, Harry was ever so grateful for his ability to muffle the popping sound most people make when apparating. Standing about twenty feet in front of him was a line of six Death Eaters beginning to stalk their way into the town. None of them heard Harry arrive behind them. Harry could already see the lights of wandfire going off in the distance.
He slipped his fake wand out of his holster and prepared to assault the unsuspecting Death Eaters, who were still marching forward into the town. Harry crept a bit closer, careful not to make too much noise. He held his left hand out, palm extended, and pointed his fake wand forward with his right. He fired off two stunners simultaneously, taking down two of the six Death Eaters. Before the red lights even reached their targets, he had sent another two sets of the red light.
As soon as the first two Death Eaters fell, the other four reacted instantly. One was too slow to dodge the red beam of light before it struck him in the chest as he turned around. The other three all spun around a little more quickly, and the other Death Eater he had aimed at was just able to get a shield up in time to deflect the light.
Harry swore under his breath. Now that they were facing him, he would be constrained to only using his wand arm to cast spells, lest he give away his abilities. The two black clad figures who were not busy shielding themselves each shot a spell towards Harry. He rolled to the side to avoid the wandfire, firing off three stunners in rapid succession as he did so. He sent all three at the same target. The first shot was a little wide to the left, the next two were dead on, however. Either the Death Eater didn't see the third spell, or he was unable to hold his shield in place for it. After he managed to block the second stunner, the third one caught his shoulder, and another Death Eater was down.
Harry, meanwhile, was scrambling to avoid the bursts of light being shot at him from his other two opponents. He sprung out of his roll fluidly and was able to dodge the first spell to reach him, a deep blue light. He threw up a shield to block the yellow light that was due to hit him. Harry was glad that the shield was able to block it because he had no idea what spell it was. He spun out of the way of another spell, a red one, and fired back a flurry of his own spells at his enemies.
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