”
“Definitely,” said Harry, beaming around at them all. “But I wasnТ t expecting this many of you!”
“Change of plan,” growled Mad-Eye, who was holding two enormous bulging sacks, and whose magical eye was spinning from dar k
ening sky to house to garden with dizzying rapidity. “LetТ s get u n
dercover b e fore we talk you through it.”

Harry led them all back into the kitchen where, laughing and chattering, they settled on chairs, sat themselves upon Aunt PetuniaТ s gleaming work su r
faces, or leaned up against her spo t
less appliances; Ron, long and lanky; Hermione, her bushy hair tied back in a long plait; Fred and George, grinning ident i
cally; Bill, badly scarred and longhaired; Mr. Weasley, kind-faced, balding, his spect a
cles a little awry; Mad-Eye, battle-worn, one-legged, his bright blue magical eye whizzing in its socket; Tonks, whose short hair was her favorite shade of bright pink; L
u pin, grayer, more lined; Fleur, slender and beautiful, with her long si
l very blonde hair; Kingsley, bald and broad-shouldered; Hagrid, with his
wild hair and beard, standing hunchbacked to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling; and Mundungus Fletcher, small, dirty, and han g
dog, with his droopy beady houndТ s eyes and matted hair. HarryТ s heart seemed to expand and glow at the sight: He
felt incredibly fond of all of them, even Mundungus, whom he had tried to stra
n gle the last time they had met.
“Kingsley, I thought you were looking after the Muggle Prime Minister?” he called across the room.
“He can get along without me for one night,” said Kingsley, “YouТ re more impo r tant.”
“Harry, guess what?” said Tonks from her perch on top of the washing machine, and she wiggled her left hand at him; a ring gli s
tened there.
“You got married?” Harry yelped, looking from her to Lupin.
“IТ m sorry you couldnТ t be there, Harry, it was very quiet.”
“ThatТ s brilliant, congrat Ц “
“All right, all right, weТ ll have time for a cozy catch-up later,” roared Moody over the hubbub, and silence fell in the kitchen. Moody dropped his sacks at his feet and turned to Harry. “As De
dalus probably told you, we had to abandon Plan A. Pius Thic k nesse has gone over, which gives us a big problem. He
Т s made it an imprisonable o f fense to connect this house to the Floo Network, place a Portkey here, or App
a rate in or out. All done in the name of your protection, to prevent You-Know-Who getting in at you. Abs
o lutely pointless, seeing as your motherТ s charm does that already. What heТ
s really done is to stop you ge t ting out of here safely.”
“Second problem: YouТ re underage, which means youТ ve still got the Trace on you.”
“I donТ t Ц “
“The Trace, the Trace!” said Mad-Eye imp a tiently. “
The charm that detects magical activity around under-seventeens, the way the Ministry finds out about underage magic! If you, or anyone around you, casts a spell to get you out of here, Thicknesse is going to know about it, and so will the Death Eaters.
”
“We canТ t wait for the Trace to break, because the moment you turn seventeen youТ ll lose all the pr o
tection your mother gave you. In short, Pius Thic k
nesse thinks heТ s got you co r
nered good and proper.”
Harry could not help but agree with the u n known Thicknesse.
“So what are we going to do?”
“WeТ re going to use the only means of transport left to us, the only ones the Trace canТ t detect, b e
cause we donТ t need to cast spells to use them: brooms, thestrals, and HagridТ s m o
torbike.”
Harry could see flaws in this plan; however, he held his tongue to give Mad-Eye the chance to a d dress them.
“Now, your motherТ s charm will only break u n der two conditions: when you come of age, or” Ц
Moody gestured around the pri s tine kitchen Ц “
you no longer call this place home. You and your aunt and uncle are going your separate ways tonight, in the full understanding that youТ re never going to live t o
gether again, correct?”
Harry nodded.
“So this time, when you leave, thereТ ll be no g o
ing back, and the charm will break the moment you get outside its range. WeТ re choo s
ing to break it early, because the altern a
tive is waiting for You-Know-Who to come and seize you the moment you turn seve n teen.
“The one thing weТ ve got on our side is that You-Know-Who doesnТ t know weТ re moving you t
o night. WeТ ve leaked a fake trail to the Ministry: They think youТ re not leaving until the thirt
i eth. However, this is You-Know-Who weТ re dealing with, so we canТ t rely on him ge
t ting the date wrong; heТ s bound to have a couple of Death Eaters patrolling the skies in this ge
n eral area, just in case. So, weТ
ve given a dozen different houses every protection we can throw at them. They all look like they could be the place weТ re going to hide you, theyТ ve all got some conne c
tion with the O r der: my house, KingsleyТ
s place, MollyТ s Auntie MurielТ s Ц you get the idea.”
“Yeah,” said Harry, not entirely truthfully, b e cause he could still spot a gaping hole in the plan.
“YouТ ll be going to TonksТ s parents. Once youТ re within the boundaries of the protective e n
chantments weТ ve put on their house youТ ll be able to use a Por t key to the Burrow. Any que
s tions?”
“Er Ц yes,” said Harry. “Maybe they wonТ t know which of the twelve secure houses IТ m heading for at first, but wonТ t it be sort of obvious once” Ц he pe
r formed a quick headcount Ц “fou r
teen of us fly off toward TonksТ s parents?”
“Ah,” said Moody, “I forgot to mention the key point. Fourteen of us wonТ t be flying to TonksТ s pa r
ents. There will be seven Harry Po t
ters moving through the skies tonight, each of them with a co m panion, each pair heading for a different safe house.
”
From inside his cloak Moody now wit h drew a flask of what looked like mud. There was no need for him to sa
y another word; Harry understood the rest of the plan immediately.
“No!” he said loudly, his voice ringing through the kitchen. “No way!”
“I told them youТ d take it like this,” said Hermione with a hint of complacency.
“If you think IТ m going to let six people risk their lives -- !”
“Ч because itТ s the first time for all of us,” said Ron.
“This is different, pretending to be me Ц “
“Well, none of us really fancy it, Harry,” said Fred earnestly. “Imagine if som e
thing went wrong and we were stuck as specky, scrawny gits forever.”
Harry did not smile.
“You canТ t do it if I donТ t cooperate, you need me to give you some hair.”
“Well, thatТ s the plan scuppered,” said George. “Obviously thereТ s no chance at all of us getting a bit of your hair unless you coope r
ate.”
“Yeah, thirteen of us against one bloke whoТ s not allowed to use magic; weТ ve got no chance,” said Fred.
“Funny,” said Harry, “really amu s ing.”
“If it has to come to force, then it will,” growled Moody, his magical eye now quivering a li t
tle in its socket as he glared at Harry. “Everyone hereТ s ove r age, Potter, and theyТ
re all prepared to take the risk.”
Mundungus shrugged and grimaced; the mag i cal eye swerved sideways to glance at him out of the side of MoodyТ
s head.
“LetТ s have no more arguments. TimeТ s wea r ing on. I want a few of your hairs, boy, now.”
“But this is mad, thereТ s no need Ц “
“No need!” snarled Moody. “With You-Know-Who out there and half the Ministry on his side? Po t ter, if we
Т re lucky heТ ll have swa l lowed the fake bait and heТ ll
be planning to ambush you on the thi r
tieth, but heТ d be mad not to have a Death Eater or two keeping an eye out, itТ s what IТ d do. They might not be able to get at you or this house while your mother
Т s charm holds, but itТ s about to break and they know the rough pos i
tion of the place. Our only chance is to use decoys. Even You-Know-Who canТ t split himself into seven.”
Harry caught HermioneТ s eye and looked away at once.
“So, Potter Ц some of your hair, if you please.”
Harry glanced at Ron, who grimaced at him in a just-do-it sort of way.
“Now!” barked Moody.
With all of their eyes upon him, Harry reached up to the top of his head, grabbed a hank of hair, and pulled.
“Good,” said Moody, limping forward as he pulled the stopper out of the flask of p o tion. “Straight in he
re, if you please.”
Harry dropped the hair into the mudlike liquid. The moment it made contact with its surface, the p o
tion began to froth and smoke, then, all at once, it turned a clear, bright gold.
“Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry,” said Hermione, before catching sight of RonТ s raised eyebrows, blushing slightly, and sa y
ing, “Oh, you know what I mean Ц GoyleТ s potion tasted like bogies.”
“Right then, fake Potters line up over here, please,” said Moody.
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, and Fleur lined up in front of Aunt PetuniaТ s gleaming sink.
“WeТ re one short,” said Lupin.
“Here,” said Hagrid gruffly, and he lifted Mundungus by the scruff of the neck and dropped him down beside Fleur, who wrinkled her nose pointedly and moved along to stand between Fred and George instead.
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