I awoke as my feet slammed onto hard ground and I fell onto my hands and knees. Panting, dazed, confused, I looked up. I heard screams and yells. I was hoisted up underneath one arm; I stood, swaying slightly, and saw Mrs Weasley, Ginny, Harry, Kylie, and Fleur running down the steps by the back door, Hagrid lumbering after them. I glanced to the side and saw Sirius holding a glowing hairbrush; that must've been the Portkey, he must have gotten us into Tonks's parents' house okay after I passed out. 

"Daisy? You ARE the real Daisy? What happened? Where are the others?" Mrs Weasley cried as Harry slammed into me, hugging me hard. 

"What d'you mean? Isn't anyone else back?" I panted, staggering as I hugged Harry back with as much force as he used. 

The answer was clearly etched in Mrs Weasley's pale face. 

"We literally just got here, right before you." Harry explained. 

"The Death Eaters were waiting for us." I told them. "We were surrounded the moment we took off - somehow the fuckers knew it was tonight - I dunno what happened to anyone else, so many of them chased us, it was all we could do to get away, and then Riddle caught up with us -" 

I could hear the self-justifying note in my voice, the plea for her to understand why I didn't know what had happened to her sons, but - 

"Thank goodness you're all right." Mrs Weasley said, pulling me into a hug. I sagged into her arms, exhausted. 

"Haven't go' any brandy, have yeh, Molly?" Hagrid asked a little shakily. "Fer medicinal purposes?"

She could have summoned it by magic, but as she hurried back toward the crooked house, I knew that she wanted to hide her face. I turned to Harry, Ginny, and Kylie, and Ginny answered my unspoken plea for information at once.

"Ron and Tonks should have been back first, but they missed their Portkey, it came back without them." She said, pointing at a rusty oil can lying on the ground nearby. "And that one," She pointed at an ancient sneaker, "should have been Emily and Fred's, they were supposed to be second. Harry and Hagrid were third, you and Sirius were fourth, and," She checked her watch, "if they made it, George and Lupin ought to be back in about a minute."

Mrs Weasley reappeared carrying a bottle of brandy, which she handed to Hagrid. He uncorked it and drank it straight down in one.

"Mum!" Ginny shouted, pointing to a spot several feet away.

A blue light had appeared in the darkness: It grew larger and brighter, and Lupin and George appeared, spinning and then falling. I knew immediately that there was something wrong: Lupin was supporting George, who was unconscious and whose face was covered in blood.

I ran forward and seized George's legs. Together, me and Lupin carried George into the house and through the kitchen to the living room, where we laid him on the sofa. As the lamplight fell across George's head, Ginny gasped and my stomach lurched: one of George's ears was missing. The side of his head and neck were drenched in wet, shockingly scarlet blood.

No sooner had Mrs Weasley bent over her son than Lupin grabbed me by the upper arm and dragged me, none too gently, back into the kitchen, where Hagrid was still attempting to ease his bulk through the back door. 

"Oi!" Hagrid said indignantly, "Le' go of 'er! Le' go of Daisy!"

Lupin ignored him.

"What creature sat in the corner the first time that Daisy and Harry Potter visited my office at Hogwarts?" He said, giving me a small shake. "Answer me!"

"Jesus fucking Christ - a grindylow in a tank, wasn't it?"

Lupin released me and stalked out of the room again, returning with Harry and repeating the process with him as I fell back against a kitchen cupboard, slowly becoming aware of the stinging pain in my leg again. 

And after Harry came Sirius. My godfather smirked as Lupin growled at him, "What nickname did we have for Emily's mother back at school?" 

"Yummy Mummy." Sirius said mischievously, and Lupin released him. I exchanged a wide-eyed glance with Harry. 

"Wha' was tha' about?" Hagrid roared. 

"I'm sorry, everyone, but I had to check." Lupin said tersely. "We've been betrayed. Voldemort knew that Daisy was being moved tonight and the only people who could have told him were directly involved in the plan. You might have been impostors." 

"Sus." I muttered, and Harry slapped my arm with a disgusted look. "Godric, Harry, I was just joking. Am I not allowed to joke around here anymore?" 

"So why aren' you checkin' me?" Hagrid panted, still struggling with the door.

"You're half-giant." Lupin said, looking up at Hagrid. "The Polyjuice Potion is designed for human use only."

"None of the Order would have told Riddle we were moving tonight." I said. The idea was dreadful to me, I could not believe it of any of them. The fear was starting to set in from the absence of Fred and Terry, but I ignored it. "Riddle only caught up with me toward the end, he didn't know which one I was in the beginning. If he'd been in on the plan he'd have known from the start I was the one with Sirius."

"Voldemort caught up with you?" Lupin said sharply. "What happened? How did you escape?"

I explained how the Death Eaters pursuing us had seemed to recognise me as the true Daisy, how they had abandoned the chase, how they must have summoned Riddle, who had appeared just before me and Sirius had reached the sanctuary of Tonks's parents.

"They recognised you? But how? What had you done?"

"I..." I tried to remember; the whole journey seemed like a blur of panic and confusion. "I saw Stan Shunpike... You know, the dude who was the conductor on the Knight Bus? And I tried to Disarm him instead of just straight up killing him. I mean, he doesn't know what he's doing, does he? He must be Imperiused!"

Lupin looked aghast.

"Daisy, the time for Disarming is past! These people are trying to capture you! At least Stun if you aren't prepared to kill!"

"Come on, Remus, we were hundreds of feet up!" Sirius defended me. 

"And Stan's not himself, and if I Stunned him and he'd fallen, he'd have died the same as if I'd used Avada Kedavra! Expelliarmus saved me from Riddle two years ago." I added defiantly. Lupin was reminding me of the sneering Hufflepuff Zacharias Smith, who had jeered at me for wanting to teach Dumbledore's Army how to Disarm.

"Yes, Daisy, Sirius," said Lupin with painful restraint, "and a great number of Death Eaters witnessed that happening! Forgive me, but it was a very unusual move then, under the imminent threat of death. Repeating it tonight in front of Death Eaters who either witnessed or heard about the first occasion was close to suicidal!"

"So you think Daisy should have killed Stan Shunpike?" Sirius said angrily.

"Of course not," said Lupin, "but the Death Eaters - frankly, most people! - would have expected her to attack back! Expelliarmus is a useful spell, Daisy, but the Death Eaters seem to think it is your signature move, and I urge you not to let it become so!"

"I won't blast people out of my way just because they're there." I said defiantly. "That's Riddle's job."

Lupin's retort was lost: finally succeeding in squeezing through the door, Hagrid staggered to a chair and sat down; it collapsed beneath him. Ignoring his mingled oaths and apologies, I glanced over my shoulder anxiously. 

"Will Georgie be okay?"

All Lupin's frustration with me 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. Sirius dived for the back door; I leapt over Hagrid's legs and sprinted into the yard.

Four figures had appeared in the yard, and as I ran toward them I realised they were Terry and Hermione, now returning to their normal appearances, and Mr Weasley and Kingsley, both clutching random household objects. Terry flung himself into my arms, but Kingsley showed no pleasure at the sight of any of us. Over Terry's shoulder I saw him raise his wand and point it at Lupin's chest.

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

"'Daisy is the best hope we have. Trust her.'" Lupin said calmly.

Kingsley turned his wand on the rest of us, but Lupin said, "It's them, I've checked!"

"All right, all right!" Kingsley said, 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 realise that there would be nine Daisys."

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

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

Terry stifled a terrified moan behind his hand.

"What happened to you?" Sirius 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, Sirius, he can -" 

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

"So that's why he left, to follow you!" Kingsley said. "I couldn't understand why he'd vanished. But what made him change targets?"

"Daisy behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike." Lupin said. I scoffed, rolling my eyes. 

"Stan?" Hermione repeated. "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." Lupin said.

"Lost an -?" Terry repeated in a high voice.

"Snape's work." Lupin said.

"Snape?" I shouted. "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 us as we looked up at the sky. There was no sign of movement; the stars stared back, unblinking, indifferent, unobscured by flying friends. Where was Fred? Where were Draco and Ron? Where were Emily, Bill, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Mrs Malfoy?

"Daisy, give us a hand!" Hagrid called hoarsely from the door, in which he was stuck again. Glad of something to do, I pulled him free, then headed through the empty kitchen and back into the sitting room, where Mrs Weasley and Ginny were still tending to George. Mrs Weasley had staunched his bleeding now, and by the lamplight I saw a clean gaping hole where George's ear had been.

"How is he?" I said, my voice small. 

Mrs Weasley looked around and said, "I can't make it grow back, not when it's been removed by Dark Magic. But it could've been so much worse... He's alive."

"Yeah." I said. "Thank fuck." 

I crouched down beside the other half of my two best friends, and took his hand. I watched George as his eyelids fluttered, feeling a giant pang in my heart. 

"You're alive..." I murmured, swiping my thumb gently over his skin. My eyes burned with tears, and I looked away, blinking furiously. 

I glanced at Terry, who was sitting by George's feet, holding a tight grip on one of George's thighs. I motioned to him to accompany me back outside, and as we walked through the kitchen he said in a low voice, "Fred and Draco should be back by now." 

I said nothing. I had been trying to keep fear at bay ever since reaching the Burrow, but now it enveloped me, seeming to crawl over my skin, throbbing in my chest, clogging my throat. As we walked down the back steps into the dark yard, Terry took my hand. 

I fumbled around my neck for the little puppy charm I wore around my neck all the time now. I wrenched it free of my pink fluffy jacket, holding it in my free palm. 

"Freddie, talk to me. Tell me you're alright..." I mumbled. 

But there was nothing but silence from the charm. 

Terry watched me anxiously as I sighed, letting the charm drop. I glanced at him as I dove into my pockets for the heart charm Draco had given me back when we were together. It felt like a lifetime ago now. 

I closed my eyes as I held it in my palm too. "Dragon... can you hear me?" 

Silence. Terry's jaw clenched, and we continued into the yard. 

Kingsley was striding backward and forward, glancing up at the sky every time he turned. Sirius, Hagrid, Hermione, Kylie, Fleur, and Lupin stood shoulder to shoulder, gazing upward in silence. None of them looked around when Terry and I joined their silent vigil.

The minutes stretched into what might as well have been years. The fear was consuming me; thoughts of life without Fred were whirling around in my mind, showing me a life of misery and regret; thoughts of Fred's funeral burst into my mind uninvited, and I bit my lip, tears streaming down my face. The slightest breath of wind made us all jump and turn toward the whispering bush or tree in the hope that one of the missing Order members might leap unscathed from its leaves - 

And then a broom materialized directly above us and streaked toward the ground - 

"It's them!" I screamed.

Emily and Fred landed in a long skid that sent earth and pebbles everywhere, both pale but uninjured.

"Sirius!" Emily cried as she staggered off the broom into Sirius's arms. His face was set and white: he seemed unable to speak. Fred tripped dazedly toward me and Terry. 

"You're okay." He mumbled, before I flew at him and hugged him tightly. 

"Of course I'm okay, you doofus." I sobbed, squeezing my boyfriend tight to me. Fred grabbed at me back, his hands moving across my body comfortingly. Tears blinded my vision, and I squeezed my eyes shut as I clung to him. "Don't ever fucking do that again. Answer your stupid charm next time!" 

"Oh my Godric, Daze, what's the big deal?" Fred murmured into my hair, rocking us side to side gently. "I'm back now, aren't I?" 

"That's not the point!" I choked out into his shoulder. "The point is - is - that I was out of my mind!" 

"You were?" Fred pulled back slightly, a trace of his familiar smirk on his lips. 

"Obviously." I glared at him. "I love you..." 

"I - I love you too..." Fred rubbed the back of his neck, face pink. "I'll never get tired of hearing that..." 

I buried my face in his chest, breathing in the scent that I knew and loved; marshmallows and gunpowder. I could hear Fred's beating heart under his too-tight fluffy jacket; he was alive. He was alive... 

"What happened, baby? Did Riddle get at you?" Fred said, and I lifted my head. Fred was staring down at my leg with his jaw clenched. I followed his eyes and winced as I saw the deep cut in my calf, blood trickling in thick streams down my skin. "If he hurt you..." 

"It wasn't him." I said. "But he was trying to Stun me. Probably to - to..." 

Fred grit his teeth. "Why can't I have been the Chosen One instead? It's not fair that you get to kill him, when I want to do it so badly." 

I found Fred's need to avenge me so hot that I reached up and planted my lips on his. And as we kissed, something strange happened. I felt our feet lift off the ground slightly, and a dull pink glow pulsed around us. After a few mind-numbing seconds, I pulled away from Fred, and my eyes widened as I saw a pink light floating around us, surrounding us. My palms were glowing; I reached down with my foot and found earth again. 

"Er -" Fred said. 

"Babe, George's inside. He's hurt." I said, remembering my best friend but the jolt of panic I thought I would feel didn't come. Fred's face paled even more, and Terry and I led the way back inside. 

For the first time since I had known him, Fred seemed to be lost for words. He gaped over the back of the sofa at his twin's wound as if he could not believe what he was seeing.

Perhaps roused by the sound of our arrival, George stirred.

"How do you feel, Georgie?" Mrs Weasley whispered.

George's fingers groped for the side of his head.

"Saintlike." He murmured.

"What's wrong with him?" Fred croaked, looking terrified. "Is his mind affected?"

"Saintlike." George repeated, opening his eyes and looking up at his brother. "You see... I'm holy. Holey, Fred, geddit?"

Mrs Weasley sobbed harder than ever. Colour flooded Fred's pale face.

"Pathetic." He told George. "Pathetic! With the whole wide world of ear-related humour before you, you go for holey?"

"Ah well." George said, grinning at his tear-soaked mother. "You'll be able to tell us apart now, anyway, Mum."

He looked around.

"Hi, Hopper, Softpaw - you are Softpaw, right?"

"The one and only." I said, moving closer to the sofa.

"Well, at least we got you back okay." George said. "Why aren't Ron and Bill huddled round my sickbed?"

"They're not back yet, George." Mrs Weasley said. George's grin faded. 

Something was telling me to take both of George's hands in my own. I moved forward, and the pink glow that had subsided jumped out again, billowing around me in a pastel cloud. I took George's hands, Mrs Weasley just letting his hand slip from her own. Everyone was watching me with their jaws dropped open as the odd feeling that had been inside me since I kissed Fred strengthened; a strange combination of relief, love, and unity surging through me, seeming to spread from my heart to my arms, spreading down to my fingertips. 

And suddenly George was enveloped in the same pink glow that was surrounding me. He gazed back at me as I fixated my eyes on his, and his chocolate ones widened as I felt my vision brighten. 

A bright white light took over my vision, and I couldn't see for several moments; it felt like a full ten minutes had passed before I blinked away the light, though I knew it had only been about ten seconds. And as I looked down, I gasped. 

Everyone was staring at George, mouths agape. Where the hole should have been, was now an ear. 

"What?" George put a hand up to his face. "What? Why's everyone staring?" 

"Your... your ear." Terry said. 

A crash sounded from outside. More to get away from all the awed stares than anything, I leapt up along with Mr and Mrs Weasley, Terry, Harry, Hermione, Lupin, Kylie, and Fleur, and sprinted for the door. Draco, Cynthia, Ron, Tonks, and Bill were staggering towards us, windswept but unhurt.

"Ron! Bill! Thank God, thank God -" 

Mrs Weasley ran forward, but the hug Bill bestowed upon her was perfunctory. Looking directly at his father, he said, "Mad-Eye's dead."

Nobody spoke, nobody moved. I felt as though something inside me was falling, falling through the earth, leaving me forever.

We all stood looking at each other. I could not quite comprehend it. Mad-Eye dead; it could not be... Mad-Eye, so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor...

At last it seemed to dawn on everyone, though nobody said it, that there was no point of waiting in the yard anymore, and in silence we followed Mr and Mrs Weasley back into the Burrow, and into the living room, where Fred and George were laughing together.

"What's wrong?" Fred said, scanning our faces as we entered. "What's happened? Who's -?"

"Mad-Eye." Mr Weasley said. "Dead."

The twins' grins turned to grimaces of shock. Nobody seemed to know what to do. Tonks was crying silently into a handkerchief: she had been close to Mad-Eye, I knew, his favourite and his protege at the Ministry of Magic. Hagrid, who had sat down on the floor in the corner where he had most space, was dabbing at his eyes with his tablecloth-sized handkerchief.

Bill walked over to the sideboard and pulled out a bottle of Firewhiskey and some glasses.

"Here." He said, and with a wave of his wand, he sent a number of full glasses soaring through the room to each of us, holding his aloft. "Mad-Eye."

"Mad-Eye." We all said, and drank.

"Mad-Eye." Hagrid echoed, a little late, with a hiccup. The Firewhiskey seared my throat. It seemed to burn feeling back into me, dispelling the numbness and sense of unreality firing me with something that was like courage.

"You-Know-Who acted exactly as Mad-Eye expected him to." Tonks sniffed. "Mad-Eye said he'd expect the real Daisy to be with the toughest, most skilled Aurors. He chased Mad-Eye first, and then he switched to Kingsley..." 

"Yes, and zat eez all very good," snapped Fleur, "but still eet does not explain 'ow zey know we were moving Daizzy tonight, does eet? Somebody must 'ave been careless. Somebody let slip ze date to an outsider. It is ze only explanation for zem knowing ze date but not ze 'ole plan."

She glared around at us all, tear tracks still etched on her beautiful face, silently daring any of us to contradict her. Nobody did. The only sound to break the silence was that of Hagrid hiccupping from behind his handkerchief. I glanced at Hagrid, who had just risked his own life to save mine - Hagrid, whom I loved, whom I trusted, who had once been tricked into giving Voldemort crucial information in exchange for a dragon's egg... 

"No." I said aloud, and they all looked at me, surprised: the Firewhiskey seemed to have amplified my voice. "I mean... if somebody made a mistake," I went on, "and let something slip, I know they didn't mean to do it. It's not their fault." I repeated, again a little louder than I would usually have spoken. "We've got to trust each other. I trust all of you, I don't think anyone in this room would ever sell me to Riddle."

More silence followed my words. They were all looking at me; I drank some more Firewhiskey for something to do. As I drank, I thought of Mad-Eye. Mad-Eye had always been scathing about Dumbledore's willingness to trust people.

"Well said, princess." Fred said unexpectedly.

"Year, 'ear, 'ear." George said, with half a glance at Fred and Terry, the corners of whose mouths' twitched.

"We still have to talk about how you're able to literally heal people with seemingly no effort at all." Harry muttered into my ear. I jumped, turning away. 

Lupin was wearing an odd expression as he looked at me. It was close to pitying.

"You think I'm a dumbass?" I demanded.

"No, I think you're like James," said Lupin, "who would have regarded it as the height of dishonour to mistrust his friends."

I knew what Lupin was getting at: that my father had been betrayed by his friend Peter Pettigrew. I felt irrationally angry. I wanted to argue, but Lupin had turned away from me, set down his glass upon a side table, and addressed Bill, Sirius, and Emily, "There's work to do. I can ask Kingsley whether -" 

"No." Bill said at once. "I'll do it, I'll come." 

"Yeah, we're good, don't worry." Sirius said, and Emily nodded. 

"Where are you going?" Tonks and Fleur said together.

"Mad-Eye's body." Lupin said. "We need to recover it."

"Can't it -?" Mrs Weasley began with an appealing look at Bill.

"Wait?" Bill said. "Not unless you'd rather the Death Eaters took it?"

Nobody spoke. Lupin, Sirius, Emily, and Bill said goodbye and left.

"Wait till it gets out yeh did it again, Daisy." Hagrid said. "Escaped him, fought him off when he was right on top of yeh!" 

He was clearly trying to make conversation over the lingering awkward silence in the room now. But I knew they were all really dying to know how I'd done it, how I'd healed George - but the truth was that I didn't know. I didn't have an answer for them. 

My scar seared with pain, it was all I could do not to moan aloud. Muttering about fresh air, I set down my glass and left the room. As I crossed the yard, a great skeletal thestral looked up, rustled its enormous bat-like wings, then resumed its grazing. I stopped at the gate into the garden, staring out at its overgrown plants, rubbing my pounding forehead 

And then, out of nowhere, the pain in my scar peaked. As I clutched my forehead and closed my eyes, a voice screamed inside my head.

"You told me she would be riding with that Weasley boy!" 

And into my mind burst the vision of Floppy lying upon a stone floor, screaming, a horrible drawn-out scream, a scream of unendurable agony... 

"No! No! I beg you, I beg you..." 

"You lied to Lord Voldemort, Malfoy!"

"I did not... I swear I did not..." 

"You sought to help Potter, to help her escape me!"

"I swear I did not.... I believed he would want to protect her..." 

"Explain, then, what happened. I reached her too late!" 

"Maybe they broke up - maybe it's a good thing! He won't be able to taint her anymore, her womb is fresh for your child -" 

"Lies!" 

"Please... I beg you..." 

"You have to get control over yourself, Malfoy! The true human inside you is clawing its way out! You're losing your grip on your vessel!" 

"I - I know..." 

"I cannot have your insight damaged by your internal struggles. The girl has slipped from my grasp yet again! But next time... next time I shall Stun her. Next time I shall take what is mine... and she is MINE, do you understand, Malfoy?" 

"Y-yes, my Lord -" 

And I saw the white hand raise its wand and felt Riddle's surge of vicious anger, saw the chestnut-haired boy on the floor writhe in agony - 

"Baby?"

It was over as quickly as it had come: I stood shaking in the darkness, clutching the gate into the garden, my heart racing, my scar still tingling. It was several moments before I realised that Fred, George, and Terry were at my side.

"Are you all right?" Fred asked, close enough now to look into my face. "You look awful! Baby, what's the matter...?" 

"Well," I said shakily, "I probably look better than Floppy..." 

When I had finished telling them what I had seen, George and Terry looked appalled, but Fred downright terrified.

"But it was supposed to have stopped! Your scar - it wasn't supposed to do this anymore! Princess, listen to me, you mustn't let that connection open up again - Dumbledore wanted you to close your mind!"

When I did not reply, he gripped my arm.

"Daisy, he's taking over the Ministry and the newspapers and half the Wizarding world! Don't let him inside your head too!" 

"Too late." I muttered, and with a weak shudder, slumped into Fred's outstretched arms.