“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.
“IТ m a soldier, IТ d sooner be a protector,” said Mundungus.
“Shut it,” growled Moody. “As IТ ve already told you, you spineless worm, any Death Eaters we run into will be aiming to capture Potter, not kill him. Dumbledore a l
ways said You-Know-Who would want to finish Potter in pe r
son. ItТ ll be the protectors who have got the most to worry about, the Death Ea t
ersТ ll want to kill them.”
Mundungus did not look particularly reassured, but Moody was already pulling half a dozen eggcup-sized glasses from inside his cloak, which he handed out, before pouring a little Polyjuice Potion into each one.
“Altogether, then … “
Ron, Hermione, Fred, George, Fleur, and Mundungus drank. All of them gasped and gri m aced as the potion hit
their throats; At once, their features began to bubble and distort like hot wax. Hermione and Mundungus were shoo t
ing upward; Ron, Fred, and George were shrinking; their hair was darke n ing, HermioneТ s and FleurТ
s appearing to shoot backward into their skulls.
Moody, quite unconcerned, was now loosening the ties of the large sacks he had brought with him. When he straightened up again, there were six Harry Potters gasping and panting in front of him.
Fred and George turned to each other and said t o gether, “Wow Ц weТ re identical!”
“I dunno, though, I think IТ m still be t ter-looking,” said Fred, examining his refle
c tion in the kettle.
“Bah,” said Fleur, checking herself in the m
i crowave door, “Bill, donТ t look at me Ц IТ m С ideous.”
“Those whose clothes are a bit roomy, IТ ve got smaller here,” said Moody, indicating the first sack, “and vice versa. DonТ t forget the glasses, thereТ s six pairs in the side pocket. And when youТ re dressed, there
Т s luggage in the other sack.”
The real Harry thought that this might jus
t be the most bizarre thing he had ever seen, and he had seen some extremely odd things. He watched as his six doppelgangers rummaged in the sacks, pulling out sets of clothes, putting on glasses, stuffing their own things away. He felt like asking them t
o show a little more respect for privacy as they all began stripping off with impunity, clearly more at ease with displa y
ing his body than they would have been with their own.
“I knew Ginny was lying about that tattoo,” said Ron, looking down at his bare chest.
“Harry, your eyesight really is awful,” said Hermione, as she put on glasses.
Once dressed, the fake Harrys took ruc k
sacks and owl cages, each containing a stuffed snowy owl, from the second sack.
“Good,” said Moody, as at last seven dressed, b e spectacled, and luggage-laden Ha
r rys faced him. “The pairs will be as follows: Mundungus will be traveling with me, by broom Ц “
“WhyТ m I with you?” grunted the Harry nearest the back door.
“Because youТ re the one that needs watching,” growled Moody, and sure enough, his magical eye did not waver from Mundu n
gus as he continued, “Arthur and Fred Ц “
“IТ m George,” said the twin at whom Moody was pointing. “CanТ t you even tell us apart when weТ re Harry?”
“Sorry, George Ц “
“IТ m only yanking your wand, IТ m Fred really Ц “
“Enough messing around!” snarled Moody. “The other one Ц George or Fred or whoever you are Ц youТ re with Remus. Miss Delacour Ц “
“IТ m taking Fleur on a thestral,” said Bill. “SheТ s not that fond of brooms.”
Fleur walked over to stand beside him, giving him a soppy, slavish look that Harry hoped with all his heart would never appear on his face again.
“Miss Granger with Kingsley, again by the s tral Ц “
Hermione looked reassured as she answered KingsleyТ s smile; Harry knew that Hermione too lacked confidence on a broo m
stick.
“Which leaves you and me, Ron!” said Tonks brightly, knocking over a mug tree as she waved at him.
Ron did not look quite as pleased as Hermione.
“AnТ youТ re with me, Harry. That all righТ ?” said Hagrid, looking a little anxious. “WeТ ll be on the bike, brooms anТ thestrals canТ t take me weight, see. Not a lot oТ
room on the seat with me on it, though, so youТ ll be in the sidecar.”
“ThatТ s great,” said Harry, not altogether trut h fully.
“We think the Death Eaters will expect you to be on a broom,” said Moody, who seemed to guess how Harry was feeling. “SnapeТ s had plenty of time to tell them everything about you heТ s never mentioned b
e fore, so if we do run into any Death Eaters, weТ re be
t ting theyТ ll choose one of the Potters who looks at home on a broomstick. All right then,”
he went on, tying up the sack with the fake PottersТ clothes in it and leading the way back to the door,
“I make it three minutes until weТ re supposed to leave. No point loc k ing the back door, it wonТ
t keep the Death Eaters out when they come looking. Come on …”
Harry hurried to gather his rucksack, Firebolt, and HedwigТ s cage and followed the group to the dark back garden.
On every side broomsticks were leaping into hands; Hermione had already been helped up onto a great black thestral by Kingsley, Fleur onto the other by Bill. Hagrid was standing ready beside the moto
r bike, goggles on.
“Is this it? Is this SiriusТ s bike?”
“The very same,” said Hagrid, bea m ing down at Harry. “AnТ
the last time yeh was on it, Harry, I could fit yeh in one hand!”
Harry could not help but feel a little humil i ated as he got into the sidecar. It placed him several feet b
e
low everybody else: Ron smirked at the sight of him sitting there like a child in a bumper car. Harry stuffed his ruc k
sack and broomstick down by his feet and rammed HedwigТ s cage between his knees. He was e x
tremely uncomfortable.
“ArthurТ s done a bit oТ tinkerinТ ,” said Hagrid, quite oblivious to HarryТ s discomfort. He settled hi m
self astride the motorcycle, which creaked slightly and sank inches into the ground. “ItТ s got a few tricks up its sleeves now. ThaТ one was my idea.”
He pointed a thick finger at a purple button near the spee d ometer.
"Please be careful, Hagrid." said Mr. Weasley, who was standing beside them, holding his broo m
stick. "I'm still not sure that was advisable and it's ce r tainly only to be used in emergencies."
"All right, then." said Moody. "Everyone ready, please. I want us all to leave at e x
actly the same time or the whole point of the dive r sion's lost."
Everybody motioned their heads. "Hold tight now, Ron," said Tonks, and Harry saw Ron throw a forcing, guilty look at Lupin before placing his hands on each side of her waist. Hagrid kicked the moto
r bike into life: It roared like a dragon, and the sidecar began to vibrate.
“Good luck, everyone,” shouted Moody. “See you all in about an hour at the Burrow. On the count of three. One … two .. THREE.”
There was a great roar from the motorbike, and Harry felt the sidecar give a nasty lurch. He was rising through th
e air fast, his eyes watering slightly, hair whipped back off his face. Around him brooms were soaring upward too; the long black tail of a the s
tral flicked past. His legs, jammed into the sidecar by HedwigТ s cage and his rucksack, were a l
ready sore and starting to go numb. So great was his di s
comfort that he almost forgot to take a last glimpse of number four Privet Drive. By the time he looked over the edge of the sidecar he could no longer tell which one it was.
And then, out of nowhere, out of nothing, they were surrounded. At least thirty hooded figures, su s
pended in midair, formed a vast circle in the middle of which the Order members had risen, oblivious Ц
Screams, a blaze of green light on every side: Hagrid gave a yell and the moto r bike rolled over.
Harry lost any sense of where they were. Streetlights above him, yells around him, he was clinging to the sidecar for dear life. Hedwig's cage, the Firebolt, and his rucksack slipped from b
e neath his knees Ц
"No Ц HELP!"
The broomstick spun too, but he ju
st managed to seize the strap of his rucksack and the top of the cage as the motorbike swung the right way up again. A second's relief, and then another burst of green light. The owl screeched and fell to the floor of the cage.
"No Ц NO!"
The motorbike zoomed forward; Harry glimpsed hooded Death Eaters scattering as Hagrid blasted through their circle.
"Hedwig Ц Hedwig Ц "
But the owl lay motionless and pathetic as a toy on the floor of her cage. He could not take it in, and his terror for the others was par a

mount. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a mass of people moving, flares of green light, two pairs of people on brooms soaring off into the distance, but he could not tell who they were Ц
"Hagrid, we've got to go back, we've got to go back!" he yelled over the thunderous roar of the e n
gine, pulling out his wand, ra m
ming Hedwig's cage into the floor, refusing to believe that she was dead. "Hagrid, TURN AROUND!"
"My job's ter get you there safe, Harry!" bellow Hagrid, and he opened the throttle. "Stop Ц S
TOP!" Harry shouted, but as he looked back again two jets of green light flew past his left ear: Four Death Eaters had broken away from the circle and were purs u
ing them, aiming for Hagrid's broad back. Hagrid swerved, but the Death Eaters were keeping up
with the bike; more curses shot after them, and Harry had to sink low into the sidecar to avoid them. Wri g
gling around he cried, " Stupefy!"
and a red bolt of light shot from his own wand, cleaving a gap between the four pursuing Death Eaters as they sca t
tered to avoid it.
"Hold on, Harry, this'll do for 'em!" roared Hagrid, and Harry looked up just in time to see Hagrid slamming a thick finger into a green button near the fuel gauge. A wall, a solid black wall, erupted out of the e
x haust pipe. Craning his neck, Harry saw it expand into b
e
ing in midair. Three of the Death Eaters swerved and avoided it, but the fourth was not so lucky; He vanished from view and then dropped like a boulder from behind it, his broomstick broken into pieces. One of his fe
l lows slowed up to save him, but they and the airborne wall were swallowed by dar
k ness as Hagrid leaned low over the handlebars and sped up.
More Killing Curses flew past Harry's head from the two remaining Death Eaters' wands; they were aiming for Hagrid. Harry r e
sponded with further Stunning Spells: Red and green collided in midair in a shower of mult i
colored sparks, and Harry thought wildly of fireworks, and the Muggles below who would have no idea what was happening Ц
"Here we go again, Harry, hold on!" yelled Hagrid, and he jabbed at a second bu t
ton. This time a great net burst from the bike's e x
haust, but the Death Eaters were ready for it. Not only did they swerve to avoid it, but the companion who had slowed to save their unco n
scious friend had caught up. He bloomed su d
denly out of the darkness and now three of them were pursuing the moto r bike, all shooting curses after it.
"This'll do it, Harry, hold on tight!" yelled Hagrid, and Harry saw him slam his whole hand onto the purple button beside the speedometer.
With an unmistakable bellowing roar, dragon fire burst from the exhaust, white-hot and blue, and the motorbike shot forward like a bullet with a sound of wrenching metal. Harry saw the Death Eaters swerve out of sight to avoid the deadly trail of flame,
and at the same time felt the sidecar sway om
i nously: Its metal connections to the bike had splintered with the force of acceler a
tion.
"It's all righ', Harry!" bellowed Hagrid, now thrown flat onto the back by the surge of speed; n o
body was steering now, and the sid e car was starting to twist violently in the bike's slipstream.
"I'm on it, Harry, don' worry!" Hagrid yelled, and from inside his jacket pocket he pulled his flo w
ery pink umbrella.
"Hagrid! No! Let me!"
"REPARO!"
There was a deafening bang and the sidecar broke away from the bike completely. Harry sped forward, propelled by the impetus of the bike's flight, then the sidecar began to lose height Ц
In desperation Harry pointed his wand at the sidecar and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!"
The sidecar rose like a cork, unstee r able but at least still airborne. He had but a split se
c ond's relief, however, as more curses streaked past him: The three Death Eaters were closing in.
"I'm comin', Harry!" Hagrid yelled from out of the darkness, but Harry could feel the sidecar begi n
ning to sink again: Crouc h ing as low as he could, he pointed at the mi
d dle of the oncoming figures and yelled, "I
m pedimenta!"
The jinx hit the middle Death Eater in the chest; For a moment the man was absurdly spread-eagled in midair as though he had hit an invisible ba r
rier: One of his fellows almost co l
lided with him Ц
Then the sidecar began to fall in earnest, and the remaining Death Eater shot a curse so close to Harry that he had to duck below the rim of the car, knocking out a tooth on the edge of his seat Ц
"I'm comin', Harry, I'm comin'!"
A huge hand seized the back of Harry's robes and hoisted him out of the plummeting sidecar; Harry pulled his ruc k
sack with him as he dragged himself onto the motorbike's seat and found himself back-to-back with Hagrid. As they soared upward, away from the two remai n
ing Death Eaters, Harry spat blood out of his mouth, pointed his wand at the falling sidecar, and yelled, "Co
n fringo!"
He knew a dreadful, gut-wrenching pang for Hedwig as it exploded; the Death Eater nearest it was blasted off his broom and fell from sight; his compa n
ion fell back and va n ished.
"Harry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," moaned Hagrid, "I shouldn'ta tried ter repair it meself Ц yeh've got no room Ц "
"It's not a problem, just keep flying!" Harry shouted back, as two more Death Eaters emerged out of the darkness, drawing closer.
As the curses came shooting across the interve n ing space again, Hagrid swerved and zi
g zagged: Harry knew that Hagrid did not dare use the dragon-fire button aga
in, with Harry seated so insecurely. Harry sent Stu n
ning Spell after Stunning Spell back at their pursuers, barely holding them off. He shot a n other bloc
k ing jinx at them: The closest Death Eater swerved to avoid it and his hood slipped, and by the red lig
ht of his next Stu n ning Spell, Harry saw the strangely blank face of Stanley Shu
n pike Ц Stan Ц
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled.
"That's him, it's him, it's the real one!"
The hooded Death Eater's shout reached Harry even above the thunder of the motorbike's engine: Next moment, both pursuers had fallen back and di s
appeared from view.
"Harry, what's happened?" bellowed Hagrid. "Where've they gone?"
"I don't know!"
But Harry was afraid: The hooded Death Eater had shouted, "It's the real one!"; how had he known? He gazed around at the apparently empty darkness and felt its me n
ace. Where were they?
He clambered around on the seat to face fo r ward and seized hold of the back of Hagrid's jacket.
"Hagrid, do the dragon-fire thing again, let's get out of here!"
"Hold on tight, then, Harry!"
There was a deafening, screeching roar again and the white-blue fire shot from the e x
haust: Harry felt himself slipping bac k
wards off what little of the seat he had. Hagrid flung backward upon him, barely maintaining his grip on the handlebars Ц "I think we've lost 'em Harry, I think we've done it!" yelled Hagrid.
But Harry was not convinced; Fear lapped at him as he looked left and right for pursuers he was sure would come. . . . Why had they fallen back? One of them had still had a wand. . . .
It's him . . . it's the real one
. . . . They had said it right after he had tried to Disarm Stan. . . .
"We're nearly there, Harry, we've nearly made it!" shouted Hagrid.
Harry felt the bike drop a little, though the lights down on the ground still seemed r e mote as stars.
Then the scar on his forehead burned like fire: as a Death Eater appeared on either side of the bike, two Killing Curses missed Harry by millimeters, cast from behind Ц
And then Harry saw him. Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or the s
tral to hold him, his snake-like face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising his wand again Ц
Hagrid let out a bellow of fear and steered the motorbike into a vertical dive. Clin g ing on for dear life, Ha
rry sent Stunning Spells flying at random into the whirling night. He saw a body fly past him and knew he had hit one of them, but then he heard a bang and saw sparks from the engine; the motorbike sp
i raled through the air, completely out of control Ц
Green jets of light shot past them again. Harry had no idea which way was up, which down: His scar was still burning; he expected to die at any second. A hooded figure on a broo m
stick was feet from him, he saw it raise its arm Ц
"NO!"
With a shout of fury Hagrid launched himself off the bike at the Death Eater; to his horror, Harry saw both Hagrid and the Death Eater, falling out of sight, their combined weight too much for the broo
m stick Ц
Barely gripping the plummeting bike with his knees, Harry heard Voldemort scream, " Mine! "
It was over: He could not see or hear where Voldemort was; he glimpsed another Death Eater swooping out of the way and heard, " Avada Ц "
A
s the pain from Harry's scar forced his eyes shut, his wand acted of its own accord. He felt it drag his hand around like some great ma g
net, saw a spurt of golden fire through his half-closed eyelids, heard a crack and a scream of fury. The r e
maining Death Eater yelled; Voldemort screamed, " NO!
" Som e
how, Harry found his nose an inch from the dragon-fire bu t
ton. He punched it with his wand-free hand and the bike shot more flames into the air, hurtling straight t o
ward the ground.
"Hagrid!" Harry called, holding on to the bike for dear life. "Hagrid Ц Accio Hagrid! "
The motorbike sped up, sucked towards the earth. Face level with the handlebars, Harry could see not h
ing but distant lights growing nearer and nearer: He was g o
ing to crash and there was nothing he could do about it. Behind him came another scream, "Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!"

He felt Voldemort before he saw him. Looking sideways, he stared into the red eyes and was sure they would be the last thing he ever saw: Voldemort preparing to curse him once more Ц
And then Voldemort vanished. Harry looked down and saw Hagrid spread-eagled on the ground below him. He pulled hard at the handlebars to avoid hitting him, groped for the brake, but with an earspli
t ting, ground trembling crash, he smashed into a muddy pond.
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