DISCLAIMER: Please see Prologue Page.
A/N: A very late thanks to Becca Angelic and Muirnin for there reviews for Chapter 5. :-) The story continues…
***Chapter 7: Death Eaters Attack***
Everyone at the Burrow was deep in sleep, unaware that three hooded men had quietly entered the kitchen. They were light footed, as quiet as the night, and they moved ever so slowly deeper into the Weasley house as if they had all night to do what they came for. Stealthily they crept up the staircase, not making any creaking noise on the wooden floor past Arthur and Molly's room, then past Percy's where the Aurors were asleep, and rounded up the landing leading to the door of Ron's room at the right.
One of the hooded men pointed towards the door, and the other two nodded. That was where their target was sleeping. Again, quietly, they got further up the stairs and opened Ron's door, and saw Harry, Ron, and Steve asleep on their beds. Though they could not see their faces, they knew who to look for by the color of their hair. Moonlight flooded the room from the window; one of hooded men walked closer the beds, bypassing Steve's and then stopping at Harry and Ron's bedside to take a good look at them.
The hooded man at Ron's bedside glanced back at his companions to confirm the identity of their primary target. They nodded in concurrence when he pointed to the redhead. Looking back down at Ron, he raised his hand holding something metallic glinting against the moonlight and got ready to do his job, but before he could do it…
BANG!
A deafening crack disturbed the serene night (accompanied by a bright flash of white light) that filled Ron's room, throwing anyone off their feet who was standing on the floor. Harry, Ron, and Steve all woke up yelling in fright, startled and confused by the sudden surge of activity in the small room.
"Harry! What the bloody hell's…" Ron shouted, as he rolled off to the floor from his bed, rubbing his eyes with his fingers.
Harry saw the masked Death Eaters in the middle of the room screaming as they held their bleeding ears and cleared their eyes from the bright spot that lingered in their vision, except for one who was already engaged with Mad-Eye-Moody in a scuffle.
Harry had no time to look for his wand and threw himself towards one of the trespassers and tackled him to the floor. Steve had raised his wand but was disarmed by the other Death Eater with the Disarmament spell sending him back flying towards Ron who had just regained his footing. Ron caught Steve's full weight and he fell back along with him to the corner in pain (Steve was a large man to catch). They both gasped for lost breath.
Harry was now wrestling on top of the Death Eater he had picked to fight; as they struggled, he felt the hand of the Death Eater grasp his neck to choke him! At the same time another bright flash exploded around the room and Harry heard someone being thrown off to the wall. He didn't see who it was but he hoped it wasn't Moody. The hand tightened even more on Harry's neck, suffocating him of air and draining him of strength; the Death Eater had pushed Harry off of himself, threw him aside, and left him to gasp for air on the floor.
"No! Keep away from me!" yelled Ron as he kicked his feet on thin air to stop the Death Eater advancing towards him without any opposition. Steve slid himself at the floor to shield Ron from the Death Eater, who looked determined to get to him. Steve frantically resisted all attempts by the Death Eater to reach Ron by deflecting advances by flailing his hands and kicking his own feet wildly.
Then they heard more running footsteps coming up the stairs. The Death Eaters looked back at the door to get ready for more incoming threat.
Just as soon as Tonks appeared at the doorway, she quickly dropped to the floor as a spell went past her head, destroying the wall behind her, revealing a screaming Ginny and Stephanie who were holding on to each other in terror from the other room. She quickly shot her own curse and it hit one of the Death Eaters, jacketing him in an electrical current that shook him in pain. The Auror Sydney Nettleson had then leaped on top of Tonks from behind and moved forward to attack.
Another set of footsteps came running up the stairs. Feeling that they were in danger of being overwhelmed, the Death Eaters whipped around, sprinted towards the open window, and threw themselves through it while spells and curses made by Tonks and Sydney overtook them harmlessly.
Harry lifted himself off the floor and ran to the window to see where they had landed, but when he did see the grounds below the Death Eaters seemed to have vanished - they had apparently disapparated in midair! Nettleson and Colby doubled back towards the door and ran down the stairs, hoping to see if they could still catch the Death Eaters around the grounds.
"Ron, are you all right?" called Harry.
Ron emerged from under his bed stood slowly upright with Steve.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay - what was that all about?" Ron said, shaken.
"I have no idea," Harry said absently. He now saw Tonks kneeling down beside the body of Moody, feeling for his pulse. Harry ran and dropped to one knee opposite Tonks and anxiously said, "Is he dead?"
Arthur and the twins alighted at the doorway and checked if everyone was okay, wands in hand.
"He's okay - stunned, fortunately," replied Tonks. "What the hell happened here? How did those Death Eaters come in here?"
"I don't know, but we were awakened by a big bang and the next thing we knew they were all over us!"
"You okay, Ron? Harry?" said Arthur anxiously. He looked around with a very serious look on his face. "Things are getting hot - I got to speak to Dumbledore. Nobody goes to sleep tonight when nobody's awake!" He got out of the room and went down the stairs. Molly ran up and hugged Ron very tightly and fixed everything on him that looked messy. Steve Wraskon on the other hand, just sighed in relief upon seeing his daughter unscathed at the corridor.
Soon, Moody stirred and woke up after Tonks had muttered "Enervate!" Harry helped him to sit upright and Moody shook his head to fight off his grogginess. "Anyone got hurt?" Moody blearily said.
"Moody, what happened?" said Tonks, ignoring his question.
Moody saw everyone in the room looking at him intently, eager to know what really happened when they were all asleep. Moody felt there was no point in not telling them, so he talked straightly to the point.
"I couldn't go to sleep with everyone snoring," he replied shortly. "We were all open for attack! I told you so! I was moving about every room to see everyone's all right and I decided to sit around longer in Ronald's room. Fortunately I did because then they came…
"Three Death Eaters had come upstairs undetected - they didn't know I was behind the door. I watched them deep in the shadows, waited for the right moment to attack when I was sure how many they really were. I counted three, nothing more - they went over to Ron Weasley and he looked like he was moving in for the kill, so I pounced. That woke everybody up."
Harry and Ron thought earlier that Moody was a paranoid freak and they were very annoyed each time he looked around their room for signs of "disturbances" they thought were only a figment of his imagination. But after being through that fully unexpected encounter, they now admitted he was right about being wary especially during these days of living dangerously when Voldemort has returned. If it weren't for Moody's constant vigilance, they didn't know what would have happened to them now. One thing they learned, though, is that complacency could cost them their life.
Harry thanked Mad-Eye-Moody for protecting him and Ron, and after he did so, he saw a huge smile budding out of Moody's ridgy face. "I'm bound to protect whoever's in danger from the Dark Wizards," Moody said, "but you're welcome, Potter."
"The Death Eaters looked like they were gunning for Ron, not me," observed Harry. "Why?"
Moody grunted when he thought it was strange. "He was their target to kill, not you, I wager. I find that odd, they could have scored big with You-Know-Who if they got you, Harry."
"Kill me?" said Ron, horrified. "Why'd they want to kill me? I'm just nobody…"
"You-Know-Who probably knows about you, Ron," Tonks replied. "He saw you before, didn't he? In You-Know-What, right?"
Ron nodded.
"I think he's sending his Death Eaters to kill people who're very close to his enemies," said Moody darkly. "Yes, that's what he kept doing the last time, to break them. I have the feeling we're not the only ones who's been attacked tonight. We'll know about it later after Arthur talks to some people."
People who're close to his enemies, Harry thought. Ron was one. Then he went pale.
Hermione.
Harry didn't say anything and suddenly ran out of the room. Ron had seen him and ran after him from behind. He had caught up with Harry at the middle of the stairs and held him by the arm rather forcefully, causing Harry to look back at him. The look in Harry's face somehow terrified Ron.
"Harry, where're you going?"
"Ron, I just remembered Hermione!" he said urgently. "Moody thinks we're not the only ones attacked tonight - she might be in trouble right now, too! We got to get to her!"
Ron's eyes literally bugged out of their sockets upon realizing that. "Then how could we know or warn her at once?" he said, starting to panic. "Hedwig's too slow - Pig's too slow… "
"I was thinking of stealing back the Portkey from your Dad…"
"That's easy, Harry, but have you ever been at the Grangers before?"
Harry blew off a lot of air. He knew what Ron meant. If he did manage to get the Portkey, he still couldn't use it to go to Hermione because he had never been at the Granger household in his life, thus he had no point of reference for the Portkey to work.
"No, I haven't," he admitted in despair. "Ron, please help me think!"
"We'll go to Dad for help - let's go!"
They ran down the stairs again towards the place they knew where Mr. Weasley probably was - the fireplace. They found him there, down on all fours, talking to the ghostly head of Dumbledore hanging over the green flames via floo powder. Harry and Ron kept their distance from Mr. Weasley to listen in to their conversation.
"The attacks are getting frequent again tonight, Arthur," said Dumbledore in a very cool manner. "As of the last hour, we've received reports of over ten separate Death Eater attacks all over Britain, not including yours. There could be more, and we're still waiting for other reports to come in. An entire Muggle family has been found dead in Bristol. I never expected that the Burrow would be chosen for attack tonight. I'm so sorry, I should have at least warned you at once when the reports were coming in…"
"That's okay, Albus, it doesn't matter now," Arthur said calmly. "We're just thankful nothing really terrible happened to us here, well, except for the big hole at Ginny's room…"
Dumbledore nodded. "Arthur, You must make plans to evacuate the Burrow to Grimmauld as soon as possible. I'll have Sirius get the house ready for all of you. There's something else you need to do that's urgent. Here's a…"
"Sirius?" said Harry aloud and a little late in coming after hearing his godfather's name. Mr. Weasley and Dumbledore had heard him. Ron looked at Harry furiously, who had covered his mouth with his own hand.
"Harry, come over here where I could see you better," said Dumbledore calmly. Harry reluctantly obeyed, walked over to the fireplace, and bent down in front of it.
"Professor, I'm very sorry for…" he began, but Dumbledore gently raised his hand to stop him from talking further.
"We will talk about that later, Harry. But first I need to know if you're all right."
"Yes sir, I am but…"
"How about Ronald?"
"He's okay, sir. From what I've observed the Death Eaters may have come for him, not me, from the way they attacked…good thing Moody was alert tonight. "
Dumbledore simply nodded again. "Wait a moment whilst I send something over to your side by floo…"
"Sir, I need to warn…" Harry began again, but stopped talking when a purple night cap (possibly what Dumbledore might have been wearing tonight while sleeping) popped out from the fireplace and landed on to the floor. Harry picked it up, not knowing what it was for.
Dumbledore suddenly said, "Don't touch!"
Startled, Harry dropped the night cap back on the floor again. "Sir, what's this for? I'm quite warm tonight, thank you, but there's something…"
"That's a Portkey, Harry," interrupted Dumbledore. "Arthur, I need you to send somebody over to Miss Granger's house to see if she and her parents are all right. She should be warned of what's been happening tonight. From there, I trust you know what to do. Do it quickly! Time is of the essence!"
Harry held his breath in pleasant surprise at Dumbledore for his thoughtfulness and concern to help Hermione, which was actually the thing he tried to ask him for. Before Harry could thank him, though, Dumbledore's head disappeared with a pop.
"Mr. Weasley…" Harry started as they both stood up.
"No, not you, Harry," he said, and Harry dropped his shoulders in disappointment. "You're virtually defenseless along with Hermione if you get attacked there. I know just the right people…Fred! George!"
Fred and George came running down the stairs to Mr. Weasley's front.
"Fred, George, use that Portkey on the floor to go to Hermione. If nothing has happened yet to her yet, wake her up and instruct her to communicate with me immediately via floo powder. Don't worry. Her fireplace has been secretly registered by Dumbledore to the floo network since her first year. If you're too late, don't stay there a second too long and get back here at once! Here's some floo…"
Arthur grabbed a handful of floo powder from their storage can above the fireplace, put it in a wooden jar, and gave it to Fred. "I'll tell you what to do next when we're connected. Whatever happens, do not use the floo powder to get back here. Is that clear?" Fred and George nodded. They were uncharacteristically looking very serious tonight.
"Good. Go."
Fred and George both touched the nightcap and soon they both vanished. Harry began to get increasingly anxious and paced around the living room, snatching glances at the fireplace to see if they already got connected with the Granger's fireplace. He silently prayed that Hermione was unharmed. If what Moody said about Voldemort killing close friends and relatives of his enemies was correct, there was a big possibility that Hermione could be in extreme danger.
As more time past without any floo signal coming from the Grangers, Harry was now getting horrible thoughts that the twins may have arrived too late, discovering Hermione sprawled dead in her house, and that Fred and George may be debating at the moment on what approach to take to break out the news to them. Now if that happened, he would be very devastated and he might as well go crazy. There was also the possibility that the twins have been ambushed and killed just after they popped in at the Grangers. He literally counted the seconds in agony. A few more minutes have passed and there was still no sign of them yet.
"Harry, calm down, please!" Ron said severely. He was sitting at the edge of his chair, rubbing his palms on his knees in worried anticipation. "You're making me even more nervous if you keep pacing around like that!"
"What's taking them so long?" Harry whined.
Nobody knew the answer. Worrying alongside Harry, they chose not to talk.
Nettleson and Colby came inside the house from the yard with looks of defeat on their faces. "They've slipped away, those Death Eaters…damn!" said Colby. "No sign of them anywhere."
"You've seen them disapparate in midair, haven't you, Potter?" asked Nettleson. Harry just nodded impatiently, even though he just thought they did.
"Please stand down and have a cup of tea with Colby in the kitchen, Syd," said Arthur with regret. "It's not your fault…but thanks."
Just then, the fireplace came to life and Harry jumped over the couch to crouch in front of the fire, hoping to see Hermione at the other end. Fortunately it was her, to Harry's immense relief.
"Harry!" she said breathlessly. "I heard what happened! Are you all right? Are you hurt?"
"We're all fine, Hermione," he said quickly. "Are you okay? Did anyone come in trespassing at your house tonight?"
Hermione shook her head. "Nobody attacked us tonight, Harry! Nothing's happened at all. We're all right…"
"Thank goodness!!!" Harry breathed out. Arthur squeezed Harry at his shoulder feeling greatly relieved, too.
"Hermione, why did you take long to floo us? I was worried to death about you," said Harry.
"Sorry, about that," said Hermione, smiling at first at what Harry had said about worrying to death for her, and then looking embarrassed about something. "But it's just that…it's just…" she hesitated and looked behind her, and Harry jumped upon seeing a moaning Fred sitting at the couch being nursed by George with an ice bag on his head. Mr. and Mrs. Granger were in robes, looking down at them from behind, looking amused.
"What in the world happened to him?" said Arthur in complete surprise.
Hermione looked back at Harry and Arthur and explained, "Well, you know, it's the dead of the night and I felt someone creeping in my room. I thought he was a stalker and I pounded his head with my First grade cricket bat like there was no tomorrow…" Hermione shrugged. "It turned out to be just Fred. I had to make sure he was all right before I'd contact you. Sorry…"
Fred muttered bitterly from the background. After all the bad things that were happening, Harry had finally gotten the urge to laugh. Hermione winced as she stretched her right arm.
"Hermione, what's the matter?" Harry said, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.
"I think I overstretched a muscle when I swung the bat. It hurts a little. It's nothing…"
"Hermione," Arthur said, "do your parents mind if I talked to them for a while?"
After Mr. and Mrs. Granger positioned themselves in front of their fireplace, Arthur explained to them what the real situation was in the wizard world and asked their permission to evacuate Hermione with Harry and the Weasley's to a safe place until the situation calmed down significantly. At first they were shocked to learn about the tumultuous state of affairs in their daughter's alternate world, but they eventually agreed in the end when they realized it was for her and their own good. They were sad to let her go but they trusted what Arthur told them.
"How about my parents, Mr. Weasley?" asked Hermione, fearing that her parents were really open for attack because they were Muggles and that they were alone without a witch around to defend them.
"They'll actually be much safer when you're away, Hermione," assured Arthur. "Death Eaters don't keep a good record of the names of young witches and their parents, but they do attack when they detect Muggle-borns when they're in the neighborhood. You can go back to them when we feel the present danger has passed, don't worry about it."
"Well, I suppose," said Hermione uncertainly and looked at her parents, who smiled back at her. "Okay…"
"You have to get moving now, I'm afraid," Arthur said. "Death Eaters may come in there unexpectedly any moment. Gather up all your things, including all your school stuff and use the Portkey back to the Burrow with Fred and George - use the Portkey, never floo in! As fast as you can, understand?"
Hermione nodded. "I understand, thank you. I'll have to talk to my parents for a bit, though…"
"That's fine, but please don't take as long as necessary. Fred, George, come back to the Burrow as soon as possible. Don't keep your guard down over there." Fred and George murmured in the affirmative. "We won't rest until your safe arrival here."
"Okay, thank you, Mr. Weasley. See you all soon…" Hermione said, and her head disappeared over the flames.
Harry breathed another sigh of relief, sank back to the couch, and smiled broadly. Though he wouldn't be happy until he'd be with Hermione at the Burrow, he felt great seeing her unharmed over the floo network. He then thought about the other Death Eater attacks over Britain tonight.
It looked like that Voldemort's Death Eaters were really getting on an early rampage these days - sowing terror to the whole wizard world as if there was no tomorrow. Perhaps this was how it felt during Voldemort's last reign of terror before Harry was born. He believed this was just the tip of the iceberg of more terrible things to come. He shuddered at the thought.
Arthur then threw another pinch of floo at the fireplace, and Dumbledore's head came back over the flames.
"How is she, Arthur?" he asked instantly.
"Hermione Granger's okay, Albus. She said there was no attack at her place. They'll be taking the Portkey back to the Burrow real soon."
"That's good news," Dumbledore said with a slight smile. "I just got word that a pack of black dogs the size of bulls had attacked a Muggle resort hotel at Longsley. Several Muggles are missing and scores were hurt. I am not aware of any species of those animals ever existed before, and I suspect the hand of Lord Voldemort in that attack."
"Could they have been Hybrids?" said Arthur, horror-struck. "He's getting real aggressive, isn't he?"
Harry meanwhile, swore he had heard large dogs barking when he was at Xanthius. Could they have been those who made those barking noises?
"It could be a test attack or just a diversion to throw us off with his real intentions, I don't know," sighed Dumbledore, "but to me his new approach seems to be to hit us harder and not to care about the Statute of Secrecy anymore. It would work well for him, too, instead of being secretive and limited in action. The Ministry of Magic's resources are spread too thin - they're on a frenzy covering up that little incident in Longsley with all the wizards they could spare to subject every Muggle with memory charms."
"And after firing off the good Aurors…" Arthur shook his head. "Why can't Fudge see the glaring signs at all?"
"I don't believe he couldn't see it, Arthur. He thinks he could keep the true state of affairs from the general public forever. We'll discuss the situation further later in the morning. When can we expect you to come in here at our place?"
Arthur asked to Ron quietly to see if Steve and Stephanie Wraskon were around within earshot. When Ron told him they were still upstairs, Arthur said, "As we can't floo in there, we'll have to wait for sunrise and take the normal transport. I'll have Nettleson and Colby bring the Wraskons to Heathrow, while Moody, Tonks, and I will bring everyone to Grimmauld."
"Very well, I'll see you all in the morning. Be careful, Arthur." Dumbledore then vanished. Arthur stood up, arching his aching back.
"Hybrid?" said Ron. "What're hybrids, Dad?"
"In simpler terms, Ron, monsters," said Arthur plainly. He patted Ron on his shoulder, and walked off to the kitchen tiredly to join Nettleson and Colby.
"I heard dogs barking back in Xanthius," Harry told Ron quietly as soon as Arthur was in the kitchen. "Big dogs."
"You, too? I thought I was hearing things back there then. D'you think they're the same ones that attacked the Muggles?"
"Well, if Dumbledore says they looked like the size of bulls, then I guess they were."
Ron whistled. Harry, meanwhile, sat down on the couch to wait for Hermione to come while Ron decided to go to the kitchen to drink a few glasses of water. Harry didn't feel like calming down until he'd see Hermione all right in the Burrow. He walked over to the nearest window and let out a deep exhalation of air from his lungs.
It has been a wild weekend for everyone, he thought. It was only now he noticed that it's been only less than two days and he had at least three stressful encounters already. Two turned out to be false alarms, and the most recent one was the most serious and potentially the deadliest. It was lucky that Moody was in alert mode tonight, or else he didn't know what might have been the outcome of the Death Eaters' unexpected visit. It was possible that he would have had one less best friend today.
Why did the Death Eaters seem to have been bent on hurting or killing Ron while Harry was also there? Moody had a point - he could have been chosen to be killed instead of Ron. Voldemort would surely be glad his Death Eaters had already gotten rid of him.
It was dark and you were wrestling - surely they couldn't have recognized you from all the commotion, Harry heard himself say.
Nevertheless, Ron may be a real target now, he thought, because Voldemort might be trying take away everything that made him happy as a new strategy. Voldemort had seen him in Xanthius; Hermione wasn't there so that's probably the reason why she wasn't attacked at all - or maybe yet. Harry didn't find it impossible for Voldemort to learn who his dearest friends were. He had many spies going around freely and covertly - Lucius Malfoy was one and was probably Voldemort's best source of information.
Harry sighed and shook his head. One thing was for certain - it was getting more and more dangerous each day for him and his best friends, he sensed. Voldemort may not be gunning for him only, but probably Ron and Hermione now as well. He'd have to talk about it with his friends real soon - to warn them.
After a good five minutes of more pondering, Harry heard a whooshing sound from behind him and he whipped around. Hermione had now arrived with the twins, and she looked doggedly tired (in addition to the heavy bags of books she brought along with her).
"Hermione! I'm very glad you're here!" Harry said happily and ran up to her. He then hugged her tightly - Hermione was caught in pleasant surprise with Harry's unusual show of affection to her. She was enjoying Harry's hug while it lasted, closing her eyes affectionately as she embraced him back
Harry had almost tried to kiss her; midway he had sensed that he had overdone his welcome greeting; he swallowed hard and withdrew quickly from Hermione, looking scared. As they stood a couple of feet apart facing each other, they stared at each other not knowing what to say.
"Er, thanks, Harry, that was a - er - very nice welcome," she said, her voice shaking.
But now Harry couldn't look straight at Hermione at all. He suddenly felt ashamed of what he had done. "Sorry," he said quietly, "I…"
"Harry, it's…" Hermione began, but the deluge of Weasleys caving in to greet her drowned out what she wanted to say. Everybody embraced her warmly (including Ron, who didn't feel awkward hugging her at all).
"Hermione, I want you to meet my new friend!" said Ginny excitedly. Ginny grabbed Hermione by the wrist and pulled her towards the stairs. Harry had sunk himself intently behind the backs of the Weasleys and he didn't get to see Hermione turning her head around for him as she was dragged upstairs.
-o0o-
Harry had returned to Ron's room all by himself quietly, making sure he wouldn't bump into Hermione tonight. Earlier he had passed by Ginny's room, whose door was just across Ron's, and he heard Hermione, Ginny, and Stephanie talking animatedly inside. The hole made by the Death Eater's spell was already magically repaired (probably by Fred or George), and it suited Harry fine because he could slip in Ron's room without being seen.
Minutes ago he would've done anything to see Hermione alive and well. Two days before he wished she was going to spend her Christmas with them, but now he didn't seem to want to anymore. It was surprising to him as it was crazy.
Harry couldn't understand it at all but he felt he didn't want to meet Hermione again at least for the short term, though he knew one of the reasons was that he was afraid of what Hermione might say to him for hugging her very tightly without her permission.
Now he asked himself - when did he ever ask for permission to hug someone? Surely they had done this before several times but they didn't mean anything - they were just good friends. Of course, they were still great friends, but now it felt all so different - he couldn't explain why. He couldn't remember how Hermione reacted then, but he could have sworn she had glared at him. Did she or didn't she? To cap it all, he never felt ashamed to her before in his whole life.
Harry felt a few footsteps coming from the corridor. He hurriedly laid on his bed chest down and looked away from the door, pretending to be asleep. A couple of people were whispering - the voices were Ron and Hermione's and he could make out what they were saying.
"Ron, where's Harry?"
Harry heard the door creak open slowly and Ron said "Ah, there he is - probably fallen asleep already. We've had a very wild day today you know…"
"Well, okay, good night then…"
"Sure…"
Harry closed his eyes tightly. She was looking for him. He could have just turned around and told her he was still awake and they could talk, but something deep inside him told him not to. He didn't realize it, but he was actually acting very silly. There was nothing wrong about the hug - it was all in his mind, but a big part of him wanted him to think that the hug wrecked it all, and that it would take Hermione to treat him like a baby to soothe him, to tell him - in a nice long conversation, alone - that it was all right and nothing wrong, and maybe they could kiss then to make it all up…
Aaarggghhh!
"Harry???" said Ron nervously, springing off his bed.
Harry paused. He quickly mumbled a few unrecognizable words to act as if he was just dreaming, and it worked. Fortunately. Ron got back to his bed shortly and snored instantly.
Harry began to hate himself again. It was his sudden desire with Hermione could actually wreck a five-year-old friendship between him, her, and Ron. Try as he might not to, Hermione kept flashing in his mind.
She looked beautiful at the Yule Ball last year, etcetera, etcetera, and etcetera! It was driving him mad.
Forget about it, Harry. Get your act together, dungbrain! Tomorrow, maybe it will just go away. If I could act like it's nothing, it will just go away. Yeah…
He didn't remember it, but the last face he saw in his mind before he finally sunk to dreamland was still Hermione's.
-o0o-
Two hours later, Harry woke up with the sound of screaming.
"Wha - wha - wha's happening?" he said sleepily. He felt very tired - he didn't have more than a couple of hours straight sleep tonight. Harry quickly sat upright on his bed after his senses became keener, and dreaded it was another Death Eater attack. He hurriedly groped for his glasses and saw that Ron's bed was empty. It was still dark outside. There was another short scream, and it came out from the girls' room, and it sounded like it was Hermione.
Harry leaped towards the door with his wand in hand, crossed the narrow corridor, and stopped at the girls' room doorway where the screams seem to have been coming from.
Ron had just noticed Harry had alighted at the door and he said, "It's just Hermione having a bad dream."
Harry nodded feeling slightly relieved, and watched Ginny sit down by Hermione's head, hugging her softly and patting her face gently to calm her down. Hermione was still deep in sleep, but it looked like she was crying minus the tears.
"She seems to be getting down with a bad fever," said Ginny apprehensively, feeling Hermione's burning forehead. "She was very healthy a few hours before…"
Harry found that really odd, too. Tonks, meanwhile, was on the mattress on the floor asleep and absolutely unaware of what was happening around her.
"I'll get a pan of water downstairs and mix up a potion," Stephanie volunteered, and she went out of the room carrying her potion kit downstairs with her.
Harry breathed deeply as Stephanie passed by him, wishing he was the one who was holding Hermione instead of Ginny, but he later thought that girls have much better abilities to take care of their own. Later Ron placed a hand behind his back, telling him that they can't do anything at the moment and it was best to leave the room. Harry pursed his lips and turned reluctantly around for the door.
Hermione then spoke. "Harry! Harry! Please don't' listen - please don't listen…"
"What?" said Harry, and he turned back to face Hermione and Ginny's direction. "Hermione what're you…"
Ginny smiled slightly. "She's just talking in her sleep, Harry," she said, running her fingers through Hermione's hair.
"Oh," Harry nodded. He tightened his lips again. "Okay…"
"Please don't - please don't…"
Whatever Hermione was dreaming it was probably nothing, he thought. Like Ginny said, she was getting a bad fever, and she was probably getting slightly delirious in her sleep. Sleeping with a high fever did cause strange dreams. Still, Harry didn't feel anything else but deep concern for Hermione.
"Wake me if it gets worse, Ginny?" he said slowly.
Ginny smiled again and nodded. "Don't worry about it, Harry, I'll take care of her. God forbid, if it ever gets even worse I'll surely wake you up."
Harry thanked Ginny and he halfheartedly returned to Ron's room. Stephanie was back with a pan of water, some washcloth, and few vials of potion with Colby the Auror following behind her.
Harry said a soft "Thanks," and Stephanie simply smiled at him placing the pan beside Hermione's night stand.
Hermione was still mouthing the words she had kept saying in her dream. Her face looked distressed, but she was much calmer this time. The last activity Harry saw inside before he walked off was Ginny drenching the wash cloth and wiping Hermione's face with it.
"The accident - confusion - now this," murmured Ron sadly as he walked with Harry back to his room.
Looks like she has had a terrible beating lately, Harry thought.
Again.
-o0o-
Arthur and Molly shook everyone awake in the Burrow at seven. Breakfast was ready and they all had to be leaving very soon. Steve and Stephanie would be escorted to Heathrow for their flight back to Ireland by Nettleson and Colby. The rest would go the other direction to a place called Grimmauld. Harry had no idea where Grimmauld was but he thought he was sure Sirius Black was there - Dumbledore had mentioned it so. He looked forward to meet his godfather after months of not seeing him.
Harry and Ron had packed up their things already. They were told to bring everything they had for school because they were not expected to get back to the Burrow before they left for Hogwarts. With their luggage stowed in the middle of the sitting room, everyone was eating breakfast at the table except for Ginny and Hermione. Molly had brought their breakfast upstairs where they would eat them.
"Looks like Hermione has had a tough night," sighed Molly, as she come back from upstairs. "Poor girl, her fever's still not going down."
"Can she make the trip with us?" asked Arthur, dipping his bread on his double eggs.
"Yes, she insisted that she'd be going despite her state."
After breakfast, Steve and Stephanie said their goodbyes and profuse thank you's to everyone, especially Harry, for helping them out of their predicament.
"Thanks for helping us," Stephanie told Harry and Ron, smiling. "I hate to go when your best friend is still sick - I tried everything what I knew with healing, but I don't know what Hermione has. Well, I'm still in my third year so I probably still have a lot to learn yet…but here's a healing potion that always works with just about everything…" She gave a big bottle of red liquid to Harry.
"Thanks for taking care of her last night, too, Stephanie," said Harry, accepting the potion. "We'll take it here from now on. You and Steve stay safe, will you?"
"Goodbye for now, Harry," Steve said. "Willard didn't err in choosing his friends - we'll be forever grateful for what you done for us." He offered Harry and Ron a handshake and they both took it.
Stephanie gave Ron a warm hug, then Harry an extra peck of thanks on his cheek. After promising that they would write to each other about what they knew about Willard, Harry waved Steve and Stephanie goodbye until the black cab they had called whisked them off.
Harry turned his gaze away from the front yard and saw Hermione already standing at the living room being helped around by Ginny. Harry didn't know how long they were standing there and how to react then - Hermione looked very miserable. Her cheeks were very pale and her bushy hair looked messy. It seemed that the mere activity of standing up straight required so much effort on her part, even if Ginny was supporting her.
Harry thought of going over to help Hermione, but the look on her face made him hesitate. Hermione didn't look happy at all, and she seemed to have been avoiding gazing towards Harry, though she smiled when she talked with Arthur and Molly.
Harry felt his heart slightly sink. Even though he'd been prepared for it, Hermione might have been really angry with him about the hug yesterday - her face showed it. Harry didn't dare to ask her how she was feeling. Her fever might get worse when she went livid over him, and he chose to turn away slowly from her, acting as if he was busy fumbling with his luggage. But deep inside, he was deeply troubled about it. He was bursting to apologize to her, but he thought there was a time for that and this was not it.
Their mode of transportation today was the Knight Bus. Soon after it popped carelessly in front of the Burrow to take them to Grimmauld, everyone boarded the vehicle. Stan Shunpike, the conductor, shook Harry's hand enthusiastically and showed them to their seats. Harry had the strong urge to try out the top deck, not because he was curious of how it would feel riding the Knight Bus at a height, but because he felt like retreating to a place he would likely be alone. His feeling of sadness and regret with how he treated Hermione yesterday kept him away from the others.
As the Knight Bus recklessly sped along the Muggle roads, Ron fought dizziness and nausea to get up the spiral stairs and sit beside Harry, who looked sulky.
"Harry, what's wrong?" said Ron concernedly beside Harry, who was looking straightly ahead, resting his chin on his arms on top of the seat in front of him. "I've been looking at you all morning and you seem to moping all the time."
"How's Hermione?" Harry simply asked, still looking ahead as the bus swayed madly in motion.
Ron frowned. "She doesn't look good. I hope it's not a bug that's going around. She hadn't been talking too much lately - I'm kind of afraid she might get worse if I asked her a lot of questions so I'm leaving her alone for a while with Ginny."
"You, too?" Harry said, facing Ron.
"Me, too, what?"
"Well, you know, feeling not talking to her."
"Yeah, that's right, until she gets better, at least. She looks real scary with those dark rings around her eyes…" But Ron looked away very uneasily.
Harry looked straight ahead again, seeing the Knight Bus wiggle its way out of a tight traffic jam. He felt slightly - just slightly - better knowing that he wasn't alone feeling alienated towards Hermione but Ron, too. But he knew that wasn't good, too. Still, he knew she looked angry at him. Maybe it was her condition that made her grumpy, he didn't know, but he'd still try to be careful about opening up the subject about the hug. The damn hug.
Arthur emerged at the stairs from below, looking green as he handed Harry a piece of parchment.
"Read - ulp - orally. Quickly…" he said, feeling very nauseous and holding the stainless steel rail by the arms to keep himself upright. Harry took the parchment, bewildered, but he did what Arthur told him to do. From what was written on the piece of parchment he read aloud:
"The headquarters of the Order of the Pheonix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London."*
Arthur nodded and gestured Harry to give the parchment to Ron, too. Ron read it, not knowing what it was for also, and handed it back to his dad. Arthur didn't say anything else and staggered back to the first level.
"What was that for?" said Ron. Harry just shrugged, seemingly amused at the look of Arthur's face. However, Harry had remembered something Hermione had mentioned about an Order that stood against Voldemort. He pointed this out to Ron, who then made the connection.
"I've got the feeling this is the secret Order, all right," said Ron. "I can't wait to find out! I'd join it in a heartbeat if they'll ask me."
A few more minutes later they had stopped at a small housing compound with identical looking houses. Harry and Ron started down the stairs to disembark, but Fred stopped them.
"We'll have to wait for our turn," Fred told them. "Moody says we go in the house one by one. I don't know what's the point of it, though."
Harry looked out the window and saw a single panel door with nothing behind it standing between two houses. Hermione and Ginny had gone in, followed by Molly, Fred, and George separately a little later. It was Harry and Ron's turn and Moody told them to hurry because they might be seen.
Dragging their heavy chests and cages with there owls in it, Harry and Ron went through the door speedily. Soon they were in a very old and dingy house that looked like it was owned by the darkest of wizards. Its carpets were filled of molds. At the surface, it looked way less comfortable to live here. Harry and Ron had the bad feeling they would spend the rest of their holidays tidying up the place.
Moody, Arthur, and Tonks were the last to get in.
"We're safe, nobody saw us get in," said Moody confidently. Then they walked deeper to the sitting room.
Harry didn't see Hermione anywhere now and he thought she had gone straight up to the room she would be sleeping in to get some rest. He wasn't sure when he would have the courage to see her. He instantly forgot about that little problem when Sirius emerged from the dining room to meet his grandson with open arms. He looked clean and well-shaven.
Sirius and Harry smiled broadly and they both hugged. "It's so nice to see you again, Harry!" Sirius said jovially. "I've been looking forward for this when I heard you'd be coming!" He made a mess out of Harry's already messy hair, which was fine for him.
"What's this place, Sirius?" asked Harry.
"This is my parents' old house. It's not much, but I've inherited this place and Dumbledore thinks it's the safest place for the Order to hold their meetings without being caught by Voldemort or the Ministry of Magic. I honestly don't want it, but you know…"
"Yours? Cool! Now that I know it's yours, it doesn't look bad after all!" Harry looked around excitedly, hoping that Sirius might offer him to stay here instead of going back to the Dursleys every summer.
Sirius smiled. "But you know, it still needs some more work to make it livable. My mother hadn't been telling our house elf to clean it for ages…"
"You're mum is here? She's still alive?"
"Yeah," Sirius spoke on an undertone, pointing at a wall covered by velvet curtains, "but as an annoyingly noisy big portrait, you won't like her when you see her!"
Just as Sirius said that, Tonks conveniently tripped over a hearth rug and fell over loudly to start a demonstration. Harry understood what Sirius had meant about noisy big portraits, but he thought that was the understatement of the century.
"WHAT VILE FREAKS, MUTANTS, AND MUDBLOODS DARE TO TRESPASS THE NOBLE HOUSE OF MY FATHERS…"
"TONKS!" screamed Molly, and she ran over to the portrait and struggled to close the portrait curtains. It took a while to shut Sirius' mother up; the ringing noise lingered in Harry's ears for ages. Shaking off the sound off them with his fingers, Harry was then led by Sirius towards the library.
"Sirius, what's the Order of the Pheonix I've read about in a piece of parchment?"
"That, Harry, was Dumbledore's group which was formed to fight against Voldemort a couple of decades ago. It's been reactivated again now that he's back, and we're part of it."
"That's great," said Harry, looking impressed. "Then Dumbledore's the leader?"
Sirius and Harry had gotten in the Library and Harry was surprised to see Albus Dumbledore was there reading a map of some sort while sitting on a comfortable armchair.
"Dumbledore," said Sirius. "Harry's here."
Dumbledore looked up at Harry looking very serious and said, "Hello, Harry. Nice to see you're all right. Sit down, please. We need to talk about your recent behavior at Hogwarts - in private."
Next Chapter coming soon…
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*Page 58, Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, Inc.