Chapter 18: Chapter 16 – The Advance Guard (2)

Harry grinned, “Will do. Now help here so we can get this packing done quickly,” he said, reaching out to another book and throwing it into his trunk.

“Don’t be crazy!” she exclaimed. “It’ll be much faster if I do it.”

She took her wand out and gave it a flick. All of Harry’s possessions flew up into the air and crumpled into the trunk in a large heap.

Tonks walked up to the trunk and looked at her own handiwork.

“Well, it’s not very neat,” she said. “My mum has this way of just flicking her wand and having all the stuff just fit itself perfectly. She can even get the socks to fold themselves. “

Tonks gave her wand another flick and a pair of socks floated up, gave a wiggle and flopped back down onto the pile. “Oh, well,” she said, looking around.

“That cage can do with a cleaning as well,” she said, pointing her wand at it. “Scourgify.”

A few feathers and droppings vanished. “Well, it’s better. I’ve never gotten the hang of these householdy spells,” she said.

She looked around one last time, checking if she missed anything. “Got everything? Your broom?”

“Wait, is that a Firebolt!?” she eyed Harry’s broomstick enviously, “and here I’m still riding a Comet Two Sixty.”

“By the way, I’d like Lily to come with us,” added Harry, before he turned to Lily, “if she’s willing, that is.”

Lily smiled widely and nodded her head excitedly. “I’d love to!”

Tonks thought for a moment before she nodded, “More the merrier, but do you have a broom?”

Lily shook her head.

“She can ride with me,” said Harry.

Tonks laughed at that, “I’m sure she would like that,” she said with a wink.

Turning away from the blushing Lily, she pointed her wand at the trunk. “Locomotor trunk”

The trunk floated up and followed her out of the room.

“We should pack Lily up as well,” said Tonks.

They headed over to Lily’s room and packed her trunk. Luckily, she didn’t have any pet cages or brooms, not to mention she was much more organised, so it barely took them any time to pack her stuff.

They made their way back into the living room with all their stuff.

Jacob and Ava were busy chatting with Lupin and Kingsley, though with Kingsley it seemed more like he was listening with the occasional single-word reply.

Seeing them arriving, Lupin walked up to them. “We have around a minute. I think we should go outside and wait for the signal”

“I want Lily to come with us,” said Harry.

“There’s no way that’s happenin,” growled Moody. “This isn’t a picnic. We can’t have any liabilities with us.”

“She is not a liability.” Harry narrowed his eyes. “She probably knows more about what’s going on with me than anyone else here.”

Before Moody could say anything else, Harry continued, “If she’s not coming, then I won’t be going, either.”

The members of the advance guard looked surprised, unlike Lily, who looked nervous.

She pulled on Harry’s sleeve, “It’s fine, Harry. I can see you in school,” she said in a small voice.

“Nope, not good enough,” said Harry. “I want you with me.”

Tonks and Ava smirked, “well, isn’t that sweet?” they both said then looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Moody’s mood seemed to get even worse, but eventually Lupin stepped in.

“Dumbledore said that if Harry insisted on bringing Ms Moon along, he was free to do so,” he said.

Harry couldn’t hide his surprise at that.

‘How much does Dumbledore even know about what’s actually going on?’ he wondered.

Moody looked even more annoyed.

“Fine, the lass can come, but I’m keeping an eye on her. One wrong move and she’ll regret it.”

Harry frowned. He couldn’t just take a threat like that lying down. Though before he could say anything, Tonks interrupted.

“Moody, that’s too harsh! Apologise to her right now,” she seemed genuinely angry, “if even Dumbledore said it’s okay to let her come along, then she’s obviously trustworthy. You can’t just go around threatening people like that!”

“Fine, whatever,” is all Moody said before he headed out.

Harry almost burst out at his attitude but as he was passing them, “sorry,” he murmured.

“Why don’t you guys say your goodbyes to Jacob and Ava?” asked Lupin.

Harry nodded, and then he and Lily walked into the kitchen with Jacob and Ava.

“Thanks a lot for all your help,” said Harry.

“Don’t mention it,” said Jacob with a smile and then turned to Lily, “So you decided to go with him?”

Lily nodded. “I’ll see you both next summer. This trip seems like it might be a lot of fun, so I don’t want to miss out.”

“We already know why you want to go, so don’t make any excuses now,” giggled Ava.

“Argh Aunty!” yelled a red-faced Lily.

Ava giggled again, but then walked up to Lily and wrapped her in her arms.

“Be safe and write to us when you can,” she said. “We love you and we’ll miss you.”

“I’ll be back before you know it, you know?” Lily sniffled.

“Take care of her,” Jacob said to Harry.

Jacob glanced at Ava, who nodded and turned back to Harry.

“We talked about it and we want you to come back here next summer, instead of your aunt and uncle’s house,” he said.

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“Are you sure?” asked Harry with widened eyes.

“Really uncle?” asked Lily with barely contained glee.

Seeing both Jacob and Ava nodding with a smile, Harry thanked them again and Lily hugged him while laughing happily.

The group then headed out of the house and joined the members of the advance guard.

“The signal should be any minute now,” said Lupin.

“Come here boy, I need to disillusion you” said Moody.

“Well, as long as you keep my clothes on,” replied Harry, eliciting an irritated grunt from Moody.

He tapped his wand at the top of Harry’s head and Harry felt like someone had broken an egg on his head and he could feel something dripping down his face.

“Oh, nice one Moody” said Tonks appreciatively.

“You too, lass,” he said and did the same to Lily.

Harry watched as Lily started fading into her background and he could barely make out that anything was there.

“Okay boy, keep in mind that we’re here to protect you,” growled Moody. “We’ll go with a close formation. We don’t break ranks, no matter what. Tonks will fly right in front of you. Lupin will cover below you and I’ll be right behind you. Everyone else will circle us,” he said. “If they kill any of us, we don’t break ranks. We keep flying. If they kill all of us and you survive, then keep flying east. The rear guard is standing by and they will join you.”

Tonks released an exasperated sigh at that speech. “Calm down, Moody, you’re scaring the poor kids!” she said. “look! He’s so scared his hair is standing on end… on his head.”

“Um Tonks, I think his hair has always been like this,” said Lupin, “Kinda like his round glasses-” Lupin started but trailed off.

“You know Harry, I’m still curious about why you aren’t wearing glasses,” he said.

Harry instinctively put his hands to his face and then spoke up. “A few days back, when I woke up, I suddenly noticed that my eyesight was fine. I’m not sure how it got fixed, but I haven’t bothered wearing glasses since then.”

Harry glanced at Lily and could make out her raised eyebrow. Luckily, she kept the actual situation to herself.

“Suddenly? That’s bloody weird,” said Lupin in wonder.

“Maybe you’re awakening strange powers as the boy who lived!” said Dedalus Diggle in his usual high-pitched tone, eliciting laughs from the rest of the group.

Harry alone stood there with a cold sweat running down his back. ‘If only you knew how close to the money you really are,’ he thought.

Just as they were having this conversation, red sparks burst out in the distance. Sparks that Harry could clearly identify as wand sparks.

“That’s the first signal,” said Lupin. Tonks in the meantime had strapped Harry’s trunk and Hedwig’s cage to her broomstick on a harness. Lupin did the same with Lily’s trunk.

Harry got on his broomstick and Lily straddled behind him.

A few moments later, more sparks burst out, this time green.

“Alright, it’s time to go!” said Lupin and kicked off. Followed closely by all the other members, Harry and Lily.

The cool air rushed through his hair as the group flew up quickly, leaving Privet Drive far behind them in a matter of minutes.

Harry felt an exhilaration as he flew. An exhilaration he couldn’t get anywhere else. He was finally flying again, a feeling so natural that he felt like he could forget everything else and just concentrate on that wonderful feeling.

“Hard left, hard left, there’s a Muggle looking up!” shouted Moody from behind him. Tonks swerved and Harry followed her, watching his trunk swinging wildly beneath her broom. “We need more height… give it another quarter of a mile!”

Harry’s eyes watered in the chill as they soared upwards. The lights below them turn into pin-pricks.

“Bearing south!” shouted Moody. “Town ahead!”

“Bear southeast and keep climbing, there’s some low cloud ahead we can lose ourselves in!” called Moody.

“We’re not going through clouds!” shouted Tonks angrily, “We’ll get soaked, Moody!”

Harry felt relieved to hear her. His hands were growing slightly numb from the cold. He suddenly recalled he could produce heat with Fawkes’ powers.

No sooner had he had this thought, he felt a strange warmth build up in his body. It started in the very depths of his chest and slowly spread. Its speed increased as time passed.

The warmth soon spread through his entire body and slowly emanated outside, spreading in his surroundings, heating it up. Lily moved closer into their hug.

“Wait, why is it getting warm suddenly!?” Tonks shouted, surprised.

The other members of the advance guard seemed to notice as well as they kept looking towards Harry, the source of the warmth.

“What are you doing, boy?” asked Moody, even more irritable than usual.

Harry tried to think of an explanation, but this was neither the time nor the place to explain, so he went with the simplest explanation. “No idea. It started on its own and it’s keeping the cold away, so enjoy it while it lasts!”

“Haha! Thanks Harry!” Tonks replied cheerfully.

“Turning southwest!” yelled Moody. “We want to avoid the motorway!”

Harry looked around as they flew. Now rather comfortable, he could divert more of his attention to Lily. He took one hand off his broom and placed it in her hands.

“I could get used to this,” said Lily, as she tightened her hug.

“I would have preferred you in front of me, though,” said Harry.

“Oh? Does Mr. Potter want to get frisky?” asked Lily in a teasing tone.

“Of course I do,” he replied, unabashed, “more than you know.”

That shut Lily up, but her embarrassment came out in another way. Namely, her pinching his stomach.

“Idiot,” she said, to which Harry just laughed.

“We ought to double back for a bit, just to make sure we’re not being followed!” Moody shouted.

“Are you mad, Moody?” Tonks screamed from the front. “Even if we’re not frozen to our brooms like earlier, if we keep going off-course, we will not get there until next week! Besides, we’re nearly there now!”

“Time to start the descent!” came Lupin’s voice. “Follow Tonks, Harry!”

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