Chapter 12: Fullmetal Wizard | Chapter 12
Title: Frigid travel arrangements
When Harry came downstairs, he immediately looked for Ed. He found him, sitting next to Lupin on the overstuffed couch. Though, he had to admit, the word "sitting" was a bit of a stretch for how Ed was propped up. His head was tilted at an odd angle, but mostly faced away from Harry. He couldn't tell if that terrible blank look was still there, because the unruly bangs blocked what he could see of his friend's face. He did see that Ed's arms were stiffly wrapped around his knees, and he was still shivering.
Lupin looked up as he descended the stairs.
"All done?" Lupin asked, a little too brightly, and stood up from the couch. He crunched a piece foil up between his hands, and stuffed it into his pants pocket.
Harry looked at Tonks, clomping down the stairs behind him. Behind her floated his large school trunk and Hedwick's cage. Harry turned back and nodded. Then blinked as it dawned on him. He could see the bathroom door on the wall. The floor to ceiling bars that were there just a bit ago were just...gone.
"That...cage thing..!" Harry said
"Gone.." Shackbolt said with a smile as he looked up at him from where he was squatting. Harry thought he heard relief in the wizard's voice. He supposed it was because he really didn't want to face the Dursleys any more than anyone else did when it came to anything magic related. The tall, dark skin man rose from the ground and wiped his forehead with his wand hand.
"Nothing permanent. Just a series of transfigurations...!" Harry heard from one of the other wizards.
"It'll do for now." Shacklebolt replied, with a tone of finality.
Harry saw a red flash light up the livingroom widows. Wand sparkles, his mind told him.
"That's the signal. On your broom boy!" Moody's voice boomed from the door.
"But Ed's..!" Harry said.
"He'll be riding with me." Lupin said softly.
"He's..going with us?" Harry asked, as he reached the bottom of the stairs.
"Wotcher Harry. He's going with us. Relax." Tonks told him.
"Tonks. You got point." Moody called out.
Tonks nodded, and grabbed Harry's arm. Harry looked over at the couch as he was lead out the door, as long as he was able. He had to be certain. He only could see Lupin turn and face the doll-like Ed. The rest of his view blocked by his massive trunk. Harry turned away with great reluctance, and looked over at the rest of the wizards and witches, lining up on the street. Before him, Moody stood, issuing orders. Moody looked over at Harry, then limped his way over to stand before him.
"Hold it. Stand still, boy." Moody said, and tapped his wand twice on the top of Harry's head. Harry felt a cold shiver, like ice water, travel down his spine.
"Nice one, Moody." Tonks called, as she strapped Harry's trunk onto her broom. She looked over at Harry's middle. Harry looked down at himself. His body simply didn't look like his body anymore. Instead of seeing his jeans, tshirt, or even worn out, but comfortable! shoes, he sort of took up the texture of the street beneath his feet. At about his thighs, he could make out the texture of the sidewalk. He looked back at Moody.
"Disillusionment Charm." Moody said, and looked up away from Harry. Harry turned to look at what had his attention. Blinked.
Lupin emerged from the house with Ed.
Ed looked as though he were taking a piggyback ride on the sickly man's back, but on closer look, Harry could see that Ed was firmly tied in place. Wrists tied to his elbows at Lupin's neck, as if he was a human necklace. There were additional ropes crossing the man's chest and looping around him, tying Ed against his back. Ed's legs dangled freely several feet from the ground. The hood of Ed's coat was pulled up, obscuring his face. Harry had a certain sense of dread over that.
'Are Ed's eyes going to remain open the entire way?' Harry thought.
Moody walked over, and tapped the top of Ed's head. Between one blink and the next, Harry could see the texture of the doorway and porch through Ed's body.
"That really neces..." Lupin said.
"A precaution. You never know." Moody interrupted, as he gripped his broom.
"Right. Come on." Moody said. He limply briskly back to the formation on the street, not looking back to see if Lupin followed or not. Once there, he looked up. Harry could see the blue eye spinning wildly in the right socket.
"Clear night. Not good. Right you." Moody looked over at Harry.
"We're going to be flying in formation....you keep close to Tonk's tail. Lupin'll be below you. I'm going to be behind you. We don't break rank's for anything. If any one of us is killed..."
"That likely...?", Harry asked.
"..The others will keep flying. Don't stop. Don't break ranks. If they take out all of us, and you survive Harry, the rear guard'll take over. Keep flying east and they'll join you."
"Stop being so cheerful, Moody. He'll think we're not taking this seriously enough." Tonks said.
Moody snorted.
A green flash lit up the sky.
"That's the second signal. Let's go!" Lupin said, stiffly mounting his broom.
Harry kicked off from the ground, his broom responding so briskly he imagined it was just as eager as he to be in the air. All thoughts of the Ministry, his worry over Ed, his frustration at the Dursleys, soon vacated his mind as the icy wind brushed through his dark hair. How he loved to fly!
"Bear southeast and climb!...there's some low clouds we can loose ourselves in." Moody called.
"We are NOT going through clouds, Moody. We'll get soaked!" Tonks yelled.
Moody ignored her, but Harry heard him snort. The formation rose high in the sky, but did stay out of the clouds. Harry's hands were so cold at that point he couldn't feel them anymore. He wished he had a pair of gloves on to warm them.
Harry heard a kind of buzzing below him. No. Not right. That was a clinking..clanking noise, like metal against metal. Muffled. Harry glanced down. Professor Lupin appeared to be shivering.
They altered their course every now and then, according to Mad-Eye's instruction. It was an endless, icy wind against his skin. And Harry's ears ached as if they were frozen enough to fall off his head. Mad-Eye just calmly continued on. Harry lost track of time. Then...that buzzing sound from below stepped up a notch. Noisy. Clattering. Chattering.
"We ought to double back a bit..make sure we're not being followed." Moody said.
"ARE YOU MAD, MAD-EYE?!? Tonks screamed from her broom in front. "We're all frozen to our brooms!!!"
"Some of us will fall off soon. My...friend's...shaking so hard I can barely hold on." Lupin added.
"Worry more when..." Moody growled.
The sound stopped. Abruptly. Harry looked down at Lupin, and saw his eyes widen in alarm. That look, more than anything, made Harry's stomach drop into a pit of ice.
"DESCEND!! FOLLOW TONKS! NOW!" Lupin roared.
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