If I thought that the Manor had seemed deserted that was nothing to how Diagon Alley felt. I was a legal witch with a father. It was quite a strange phenomenon. A strange thought to process in my head. I went to the wheezes but nobody was there. It too for the first time was quiet. I collected a few things of “worth” and put them in a bag.
I was at a loss of what to do. If I went back it may seem too quick. I had 24 hours before they would look for me.

Don’t think that because I didn’t have the trace on me, they wouldn’t find me. It’s easy. You just need to know how.
This time I employed a tactic I had learned from Padfoot many years ago. I used my house-elf. He took me to a large family home in Devon. He took me to The Burrow. It was there that I had the most wonderful time with Molly and Ginny, despite the fact that neither of them would sit down for very long and we basically just waited. For what I wasn’t certain. People had never given us huge amounts of details and considering my father in the equation it sort of eliminated me completely. It felt like we had been at the house for hours but in reality, I hadn’t been there long at all.

Molly and Ginny kept talking about the groups and the Harry’s but I had no idea what they were talking about which wasn’t good, I thought, if I were to become an Auror. Portkeys were landing in the garden left right and centre. The first one was a reddish rusty oil can, it was supposed to be for Tonks and Ron but they missed it and then we started to worry. The second one was an old shoe, which was supposed to be for Arthur and Fred, they didn’t turn up either. By this time Molly’s pacing had become unbearable. My greatest wish was for the next lot not to miss their portkey as well. The third was a hairbrush for Harry and Hagrid and they made it thank goodness. To say that Harry was surprised to see me was mild. My father had just tried to kill him again and he had recently watched my uncle murder someone so I probably wasn’t high on his list of people he wanted to see. To be fair to him he has never held any of it against me. Although maybe he should. Maybe I’m angry at myself. Well I fetched the brandy bottle from the side cabinet in the living room (not Arthur’s secret stash) and gave it to Hagrid it seemed right.

The next people due back were Lupin and George. If I’m honest he was the reason I was here. I needed the time to be with my friends but most of all to be with my boyfriend. I had been told he was on a trip but would be back in a bit so I waited. When he got to the house, I was sorting out a place for Hagrid to stay but then there were screams in the house and I ran. I don’t know why but I ran towards the house and saw George lying on the sofa. Blood pouring from his head. His ear had been blown off. Lupin was screaming at Harry or at least someone that looked like Harry. Fred and Molly were in shock and tearful. I honestly couldn’t believe it. I remember Lupin saying it was Snape’s fault but I couldn’t work out what I’d done. It felt like I’d come from one dark place to another.

I stayed with George for a long time Loo/Gred/Forge back together. It felt good. We were almost a team again. Almost. George cracked a ton of ear jokes, which weren’t his best work, and then we admitted that as we can all hear in the ear anyway the external ear was really just for show. So, we just went back to talking in our heads.
I was so preoccupied with George that I almost forgot the time. It’s a good job I have a house-elf to keep me on track. Don’t know where I’d have been without him.