Departed, heading north with others (2,2)
I believe the answer is:
et al
'with others' is the definition.
(short for 'et alia', Latin for 'and others')
'departed heading north' is the wordplay.
'departed' becomes 'late' (I've seen this before).
'heading north' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'late' reversed gives 'ET AL'.
(Other definitions for et al that I've seen before include "And the rest (Lat. abbr.)" , "Latin abbreviation meaning 'and others'" , "And the rest, to the old Romans" , "along with others" , "Latin notation - late for others" .)