This Dance We Do

Chapter 17: Return to Grimmauld Place

Ron repositioned his wand at the man standing in the doorway; Harry did the same.

"Who are you?" Ron asked as he stood up and started walking towards the man. He wanted to get to Hermione before someone else did, but he would have to get past whomever was standing before him first.

0"I'm your brother, you prat, as is the bloke you just Stunned. What's the matter with you?"

"How can we know for sure you're not some Polyjuice copy?" Harry demanded from Ron's right.

The person claiming to be Fred turned to Ron.

"A week or so before you left the Burrow, I walked in on you in the bathroom with a letter from--"

"Okay, he's who he says he is," Ron interrupted as his ears burned. Leave it to Fred to choose his most embarrassing memory to share.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Ron, but decided not to ask.

"Fine. What are you doing here in the middle of the night then?" Harry paled. "What's wrong?"

Fred opened his mouth to answer, but was interrupted by a scream from Hermione's room. Ron jumped over George and pushed past Fred. He threw open Hermione's door, and had to stifle a snort of laughter.

Hermione was standing in a corner, her wand pointed at Tonks, who had her hands in the air. A man Ron recognized as being from the Order, but whom he did not know, was standing with his back against the wall, trembling slightly.

"Ron, are you all right? Is Harry? My parents?"

"It's okay," Ron took a step towards her. "They're from the Order. Don't know why they're here, but they're not Death Eaters."

Hermione stepped away from him, pointing her wand at his chest. Ron raised his hands in the air; Hermione was not one to cross, especially if she was scared.

"How can I know that? What if you're under the Imperius, or some Death Eater on Polyjuice."

Ron raked his mind for something he could tell Hermione to set her mind at ease that he was who he said he was. His first thought was to mention their kiss, but he did not want Tonks and this other guy knowing that. Instead, he settled on the next best thing.

"When we were in the infirmary at the end of last term, you told me that your Patronus is an otter because of a shirt your grandfather used to wear. When he was alive, he'd hold you in his lap, and you'd play with the otter on his shirt. You always associated the otter with your grandfather. That's why otters make you feel so safe. And if I was under the Imperius my eyes would be glazed over and I would look like a zombie."

Hermione really did not seem to relax, however. Ron tried another tactic.

"Okay, how about Jeremy and Krum are both brainless gits?"

Hermione glared at Ron, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him behind her nonetheless.

"Um, Hermione? What are you doing?"

"On the count of three, curse the man standing near the door," Hermione muttered out of the corner of her mouth. "One..."

"No! Hermione, I've told you, they're members of the Order."

"How can you be sure?"

"Fred told me something that only he would know."

"What?"

Ron's ears darkened. "Never mind, it wasn't important."

"What the hell is going on here? Who are you? Get the hell out of my house! Hermione?"

"Oh no, Mum and Dad."

Ron and Hermione rushed into the hall to see Mr. Granger standing very close to Moody, yelling quite loudly. Ron could tell that Moody was struggling against cursing the man in front of him.

"I've told you, it's none of your damned business what we're doing here. Just pack a bag and get ready to leave. And stop making such a racket, we don't want anyone showing up."

"Oh yes we bloody well do," Mr. Granger fumed. "Hermione," he said when he saw his daughter. "Oh, thank heavens, you're all right. Do you know this man?"

Hermione nodded.

"Daddy, you and Mum had better pack a bag or two. We'll figure out what's going on later."

"No, we will not. We are going to find out what's going on, and it's going to happen now, before we pack anything."

"Daddy, please--"

"No! I know things are done differently in the wizarding world, and I accept that. But as long as it's going on under my roof, people will act with common courtesy. It's bad enough I can't control where my only daughter spends her holidays, I'm sure as hell not going to let complete and total strangers burst into my home in the middle of the night to cart us off without so much as calling ahead of time."

"Look," Moody said in a menacing growl as he took a step towards Mr. Granger. To his credit, Mr. Granger did not even flinch. "I know you're a Muggle and all, and that you don't understand the gravity of what's going on right now, but you are in danger, your daughter is in danger, her friends are in danger. We came by to take you all to safety. We couldn't send word ahead, because that would make our coming a moot point; we'd be coming for the bodies. If you'd rather wait around and see what's coming after you firsthand, be my guest, no skin off my nose." Ron had to stifle a laugh. "If you would like to live to see the next several hours, however, it would be wise to pack a bag quietly and then come with us."

Mr. Granger glared at Moody in a way that Ron recognized, it was the same way Hermione glared at him when she knew that she had just lost a row.

"Daddy, please. Just pack a bag for you and Mum. I'll explain everything later."

Mr. Granger looked at his daughter.

"Fine, but you and I will be having a long talk when we get to wherever we're going, young lady."

Hermione looked at her feet and did not say anything. It wasn't until then that Ron realized that Hermione was wearing nothing but a nightgown. Ron took a step in front of her to hide her from view.

"Great, now that that's taken care of, you three," Moody rounded on Ron, Harry, and Hermione, "pack your trunks and get ready to leave. Our Portkey leaves in about three minutes."

The next few minutes were a haze for Ron. He was trying to pack and take in what Moody had said, a feat that was not going over too well. Harry did not seem to be doing much better. The twins packed both Ron and Harry's trunks with a flick from their wands and floated them down the stairs towards the sitting room. Ron followed, carrying Pig in his cage. Hermione's parents were already there, her mother looking pale and scared, and her father still fuming.

"Yes, yes, let's take our time, shall we?" Moody grumbled as Hermione came down the stairs holding Crookshanks carrier, Tonks floating her trunk behind her.

"Sorry, Mad-eye, it was my fault," Tonks said as she stood Hermione's trunk on end.

"Right. Okay, for those of you who don't know how to use a Portkey, listen up, you're about to get a crash course. You all have to at least be touching this at the time it's due to depart. If you're not, your sorry arse gets left behind, and I'm not coming back to get you. Are we clear?"

Mr. Granger glared at Moody, but said nothing. Everyone else nodded.

"Great, now hold on, it's almost time."

Ron watched as everyone reached to touch the battered old trainer that Moody was holding out. The twins looked grim, Hermione's parents looked sceptical, Hermione looked scared, and Harry was expressionless. Ron moved his fingers over on the trainer so that they were touching Hermione's. As he turned to offer her a smile, he felt a great tug somewhere behind his navel.

He landed heavily on his feet before he fell over, on top of Hermione. He looked down at her, memories of their kiss flashing through his head, and forced himself to stand up. Ron offered Hermione a hand and helped her to her feet. Looking around, Ron noticed that most everyone else had fallen on impact as well. Pig and Hedwig had broken from their cages, and flew up the stairs without so much as a backward glance. Mr. Granger helped his wife to her feet as Ron noticed Crookshank's carrier upside down in the corner, hissing.

"Oh, thank heavens, Alastor, you found them." Ron felt his mother throw her arms around him in a bone cracking hug. "Oh, when I heard...but that doesn't matter, you're all okay."

"Mum," Ron croaked, "you're breaking my ribs."

"What? Oh, yes, sorry dear." Mrs. Weasley moved on to hug Hermione, then Harry. She then turned to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. "I am so sorry to put you all through this, what you must think, if you'll come down to the kitchen I'll make tea and we can talk this over."

Mr. Granger opened his mouth, probably to demand to know what was going on right there, but Mrs. Granger put a hand on his arm and shook her head.

Ron turned to follow Hermione's parents into the kitchen, but stopped when he felt Moody's hand on his shoulder.

"Oh, I don't think so, laddie. This doesn't concern you. Just bring your trunks upstairs, we'll call you down when we're through."

"What?" Ron, Harry, and Hermione said together.

"What do you mean this doesn't concern us?"

"You said we were in danger, how does that not concern us?"

"It bloody well does concern us!"

"Oh, all right, let them come, Alastor, they'll find out sooner or later." Ron's mum's eyes lingered on the twins before she continued into the kitchen.

As Ron walked past where Sirius' mum's portrait should have been, he saw nothing but a gaping hole in the wall. He stopped in his tracks, causing Hermione to walk right into him.

"Ron! What was that about?"

Ron simply pointed to the hole where Mrs. Black's portrait previously hung. Hermione gasped.

"How'd you get it down?"

"Good old fashioned Muggle tools, that's how," George replied.

"Yup, a saw, an axe, and a couple of sludge hammers," Fred added.

"Sledge hammers," Tonks amended. "Come on, let's go, best to get this done and over with so we all can get some rest."

Ron walked into the kitchen to find his and Hermione's parents already sitting at the table. Ron took a seat between Harry and Hermione, grabbing Hermione's hand under the table. She laced their fingers together as she watched Mrs. Weasley with interest.

"Well? Is someone going to inform us why we were dragged from our beds in the middle of the night or are we all going to sit here looking at each other?" Mr. Granger inquired.

"The thing is," came a greasy voice from behind Ron, "your daughter and her friends seem to be the target of a planned Death Eater attack."

Ron turned around to see the last person he wanted be around at that moment: Professor Severus Snape.