Loss - 7

"Let it go, Harry," Ron said, grabbing Harry firmly by the shoulders as if reading his mind. "We're way too outnumbered here; the odds aren't in our favor. There'll be another fight on another day."

Harry knew Ron was right, but it galled him to admit it. Scowling and clutching his injured arm tighter to his body, he nodded curtly. Ron patted him on the shoulder.

The two friends stumbled toward the fireplace just as a large, unmasked Death Eater destroyed the kitchen door. Harry grabbed the Floo powder and tossed it as Ron pushed both of them into the fireplace. The Death Eater followed right on their heels, and Harry swore he could feel the man's hand on the back of his neck as the spinning sensation of Floo travel took him away.

Both boys fell out of the fireplace onto the floor of the Hog's Head in a tangle of limbs. Harry had just managed to roll onto his back and raise his wand before the Death Eater followed them out of the fireplace. He tumbled out, tripping over Ron's long legs and landing on the floor on top of him.

"Expelliarmus," Harry shouted, grabbing the wand as it sailed from the Death Eater's grasp before he could stop it.

Ron pushed him off his legs, scrambling backwards and away from the unarmed Death Eater, pulling Harry to his feet at the same time.

"Close the Floo, now!" Moody barked, raising his wand.

The tall barkeep that Harry recognized as Aberforth Dumbledore waved his wand toward the fireplace. Several more people standing around the center of the pub aimed their wands at the opening.

"It's been sealed," Aberforth said, nodding.

Without another word or glance at the various people who had entered his pub with their wands drawn, he returned to his position behind the bar and began wiping glasses. The pub wasn't crowded at this late hour, but the scattered patrons who were inside watched the proceedings with interest.

"Amycus Carrow," Moody growled, glaring at the man who remained seated on the floor. "How nice of you to join us."

The lumpy-looking man glanced up and leered, his tongue lolling from the side of his mouth. "So, you've got me, eh, Moody? And what do you propose to do with me? You lot don't have the guts to kill me outright, and the Ministry isn't exactly cooperating with you these days, is it?"

He moved to stand, but Moody leveled his wand directly between the man's eyes. "Don't tempt me," Moody said, unblinking.

The man stared for a moment before sinking back to a seated position on the floor.

"He's right," Bill said. "We can't turn him over to the Ministry, so maybe we should just take care of him right here." Bill had a manic gleam in his eye that Harry had never before seen in him. He wondered how close it was to the full moon.

"You could," Aberforth said without looking up from the glass he was drying. "But then, you wouldn't much be following what my brother stood for, would you?"

Bill cursed beneath his breath. "What do we do, then?"

"I could take him to ze Ministry," Fleur said. "They haven't issued ze warrant for me, yet."

"No. I'll do it," a woman said, rising from her chair at the back of the pub and moving forward. She removed the cloak from her head to reveal herself as Rosmerta, the barkeep from the Three Broomsticks, Hogsmeade's other pub.

"Madam Rosmerta," Bill said, surprised.

"Minerva asked me to be an extra pair of eyes here tonight," Rosmerta said, nodding at Aberforth. "I can take this scum to the Ministry."