“My friends! We have grand plans tonight!” The Dark Lord exclaimed. “I can’t wait to see the look on Albus Dumbledore’s face when we take Harry Potter right out from under his nose!”

The gathered Death Eaters cheered loudly, sparks of color shooting out of their wands in eager anticipation. Suddenly, all cheering stopped and the group grew silent at the sound of apparition. A man with shoulder length black hair and a long, hooked nose came into view. Voldemort greeted the man, “Severus. You are late. I do hope you brought the potion.”

“Yes, My Lord,” Severus proclaimed as he knelt before Voldemort and rested his forehead on the ground at his master’s feet.

“Very well,” said Voldemort. Snape took this as his cue to stand. He reached into his robes and handed the Dark Lord a shimmering, deep red potion.

“Thank you, Severus. You may leave us now. Remain away tonight. That old fool can’t suspect your role in tonight’s events. And remember, if anything goes wrong with this mission, it will be you I blame,” Voldemort said, flicking his tongue out over his crooked teeth.

“Yes, my Lord,” replied Severus, as he bowed and began to walk away.

“Oh, and Severus…” Snape froze and spun back around to face the Dark Lord. “Never show up late again. Crucio!”

-33-

Harry’s screams pierced the midnight air as he experienced pain from the Crucio cast on Snape. Suddenly, Harry awoke and jerked upright in his bed, sweaty and out of breath. Harry retrieved his glasses from the nightstand and with shaky movements, put them on.

As he was reflecting on what he just saw, the door to his bedroom flew open and Vernon Dursley appeared at the threshold. “BOY! What did I tell you about waking me up at odd hours of the night! I’ve had ENOUGH!” Vernon stomped over to Harry, grabbed his arm, and dragged him down the stairs. Harry, still in a daze and breathing heavily, clutched his blanket tighter around himself.

“But Uncle Vernon…” Harry tried to protest.

“NO! I’m tired of this! You’re sleeping in the shed. You can wake up the neighborhood all you want with your screams, but I’m tired of losing sleep over YOU!”

Vernon yanked open the front door, shoved Harry out on the stoop, and slammed the door in a stunned Harry’s face. He never believed Uncle Vernon would follow through with his threat from earlier that morning. Harry heard the click of the lock being fastened and sighed, running a hand through his hair.

He tried the doorknob on the off chance that the door was still unlocked. When it refused to budge, Harry turned and began to head barefoot towards the garden shed.

Suddenly, Harry heard the unmistakable sound of apparition in the distance. He looked up and saw a small pack of Death Eaters, one with long blonde hair peeking out from behind his hood.

“No,” breathed Harry. He rushed back to the front door of Number 4, Privet Drive, and began to scream and pound on the door. He looked back over his shoulder and could see Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters approaching. Harry instinctively reached into his pocket for his wand, but realized his wand and all of his other belongings were still upstairs in his trunk.

“Open the door! I need to get help!” Harry pleaded, pounding harder on the door. “OPEN THE DOOR! Uncle Vernon, PLEASE!”

Just as Harry was about to ram his whole body into the door, it was yanked open.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Vernon yelled, spittle flying from his mouth.

“They’re here!” Harry said, pushing past his mammoth uncle and entering the house.

Vernon looked out the door and slammed it shut, turning back to Harry. “BOY, what are you playing at? Calling your freaky friends on me?” Harry replied, “You don’t UNDERSTAND! Those people are Death Eaters and they’ll kill you without as much as a second thought!”

The shouting downstairs had finally attracted Petunia and Dudley to the scene. “Dad, what’s going on?,” asked Dudley as he rubbed at his face. Petunia was pale and looked at Harry. “Did you say Death Eaters are here?”

Before anyone had a chance to respond, there was a loud bang and a crash from inside the fireplace. The three Dursleys screamed and moved to huddle in a corner. Harry moved in front of them.

“Oww, George! I told you to let me go first!”

“I wasn’t about to let you show up alone, Fred. You know how dangerous these Muggles can be,” George replied with an air of levity. “Okay, ready…one, two three. REDUCTO!”

The Dursleys screamed again and attempted to melt into the walls. Shards of wood and other debris from the boarded up fireplace flew around the room. Before the dust settled, George headed upstairs to get Harry’s trunk. Fred turned to Harry and said in an uncharacteristically serious tone, “We have to go. You-Know-Who’s found a way to get past the wards. We’re safe until he gets here, but he’ll be here soon.”

As Fred went to grab Harry to escort him to safety, Harry pulled away, saying, “I’m not going anywhere unless you take them first,” pointing to the huddled Dursleys. The sudden attention drew Vernon out of his shocked silence. “I remember you freaks! Get out of my house before I call the police!”

Wand out, Fred pointed it at Vernon, casting, “Silencio.” Petunia screamed as he put Vernon under a body-bind curse. Dudley only grabbed tighter to his mother’s arm with one hand and clasped the other to his arse.

George returned, levitating Harry’s belongings. He shrunk it and put it in his pocket. Fred replied, “Okay, Harry, we have to hurry.” Fred grabbed a shocked and surprisingly complacent Petunia while George handled Dudley.

“We’ll be right back, Harry. Don’t go outside,” said George, as he and Dudley flooed away. Fred and Petunia vanished in the green flames a second later.

Harry ran to the window. He could see a huge crowd of Death Eaters now gathered around the edge of the property. They all had their wands at the ready, pointing at the Dursley residence and looking as though they were waiting for someone.

Suddenly, Harry’s scar felt like it was on fire. He screamed in pain and spotted Voldemort gliding towards the house.

“NO!” Harry screamed. Voldemort made his way to the crowd of Death Eaters, all of whom bowed and allowed him to walk to the edge of the lawn. He pulled a vial of dark red liquid out of thin air, uncorked it, and threw it at the house. There was a loud crash that sounded like metal smashing and Harry covered his ears. As the sound reverberated through the house, it shook, causing expensive china and figurines to fall and shatter. Dishes crashed to the floor in the kitchen and there was a loud crash upstairs as more items fell to the ground.

Harry looked back out the window. Voldemort moved forward, now able to step freely onto the lawn without wards preventing him from doing so, and Harry saw Dumbledore apparate. He looked angry, angrier than Harry had ever seen him. Dumbledore immediately started dueling with Voldemort. More Order members arrived and soon a battle was occurring on the once meticulous lawn of Number Four, Privet Drive.

Fred and George both returned. George muttered a curse under his breath as he saw the battle had already begun outside. He grabbed the stunned Vernon without a word and flooed away. Fred ran over to Harry just as Harry spotted a familiar face fighting with what looked like Fenrir Greyback. “Remus!” Harry shouted and made a move to go outside.

“No, Harry!” shouted Fred. “We need to go NOW! They’ll all return to Hogwarts once you do.” Fred dragged a resistant Harry back to the fireplace. He tossed a handful of floo powder into the flames, put a hand on a phoenix ornament attached to a chain around his neck, and bellowed the destination and password, “Hogwarts. Sanctuary!”

As the green flames engulfed Fred and Harry, Harry’s scar seared and he saw the front door blast open, Voldemort’s evil red eyes staring straight back at him.

When they landed in the Headmaster’s office, Fred let go of Harry’s arm and Harry fell to his knees, one hand grasping at his scar. He hated using the Floo and the pain from Voldemort’s appearance did not help. Harry took a deep breath, stood up, and took his first look around the office.

“Graceful as always, Potter,” he heard someone sneer to his right.

Turning, Harry looked at the person who spoke. “You! What are you doing here?” he growled.