Blood Bound: A Vampire Tale
Disclaimer: Everything concerning Harry Potter belongs to J. K. Rowling. I own nothing, nor is this done for any purpose except my own enjoyment and the enjoyment of anyone reading this. There is no attempt to make any profit.
I wish to extend a grateful thank you to my beta readers, Amanda and Prof Roz. Any mistakes left in this story are due to my last minute revisions.
A/N Conversations in italic print are telepathic in nature.
Chapter Seven
Harry stirred at sundown on Thursday. He swiftly rose from the desktop and began his preparations to leave. He put on his new clothes and did a quick "Scourgefy" on the ones he had been wearing. Hermione did the same thing.
"May I use your Invisibility Cloak this evening, Harry?" she asked.
Harry handed her the cloak without a word.
He donned his new hooded cloak, gathered his wand and Firebolt, and swept out of the office. Hermione joined him on the loading dock. "See you on Stoatshead Hill," he thought, and with that he Apperated away. Now that he was a vampire, the pressure was not so bad and neither did he feel suffocated by the act of Apparition. He appeared at the top of Stoatshead Hill. Moments later Hermione, with a soft pop, appeared beside him.
Harry gave her a small smile, but he noted she did not return it. He did not want to pry, but he was curious. He tried to see what she was thinking. Her mind was closed and he did not wish to force his way into her thoughts, so he mounted his Firebolt. Hermione climbed on behind him and he kicked off.
He kept the Firebolt low; gaining altitude only to check his bearings. Harry flew in a wide circle trying to detect any wizards who might be guarding the ceremony. He approached the Burrow from the front. Harry touched down on the road that led to the house; he and Hermione kept close to the hedge running beside it as they approached the Burrow. Harry remembered the first time he saw this road, the time Fred, George, and Ron rescued him from Number Four.
To vampire ears, there was a great deal of noise coming from behind the Burrow; he could hear whisperings and a great collection of heartbeats. He looked, but Hermione had pulled the hood of the Invisibility Cloak over her head and had disappeared. Harry ran to the corner of the house and merged with the shadows there. He kept absolutely still; since the human eye tended to track movement in low-light situations, his dark clothing was almost as good as an Invisibility Cloak.
The ceremony appeared well underway as Bill and Fleur were at the front of the crowd. They were facing each other, surrounded by a bright glow. The crowd murmured appreciatively as the nimbus died away. The aged testor was saying, "I present to you our new family, Bill and Fleur Weasley." Harry could see the proud smiles on Ginny and Gabrielle's faces as they regarded their older siblings kissing each other. Harry did not recognize either the maid of honor or the best man. He supposed if all had gone according to plan, he would have been introduced. It wasn't hard for him to locate the rest of the Weasleys; their red hair identified them all.
The ceremony seemed to be over. All at once, the guests stood and began to congratulate Bill and Fleur. After presenting their best wishes to the young couple they began to drift away, either Apparating, flying away on brooms, or entering the kitchen to use the fireplace to floo home. In a surprisingly short time all of the guests were gone, and only the family was left. Harry could tell from the tables set up on either side of the chairs that the guests had eaten before the ceremony. There were some sandwiches and punch left over.
The bride and groom, their robes glowing softly, were moving into the kitchen. As they passed inside, Harry moved to where he could see. Before Ron shut the door, he noticed that there was a supper laid for the family. He felt a pang as he realized that there were two empty chairs that had been removed from the table and set on either side of the fireplace.
Even though the door was closed he could hear what was being said. Arthur was giving a toast, "Though this is the happiest of occasions, it is not what it should have been. There are two, as near as family, who have been lost to us. Before we begin our feast, let us have a moment of silence in honor of absent friends. To Harry Potter and Hermione Granger." It was not as silent as it should have been. Harry could hear both Molly and Fleur crying softly; through the curtains he could see the dim outlines as they supported each other.
Harry became aware of the smell of blood. He moved a couple of steps forward and to his right, and placed his arm around Hermione's shoulders. He pulled the hood back; Hermione was crying too. Her shoulders shook as the tears of blood streamed down her cheeks; but because she was not breathing she did not sob. There was something terrible in the silence of her weeping. He could feel her despair, she felt forever barred from the wedding feast, an eternal outcast from humanity.
From within the kitchen low conversations began. There was speculation about what had happened to Harry and Hermione and talk of the continuing war and the coming school year. There were queries into Bill and Fleur's plans for their honeymoon and their new lives together. Finally, there were a few jokes and laughter lightened the mood of the wedding party. At last there came the scraping of chairs and the voices of Fleur's family making preparations to leave. After several minutes passed, voices spoke in French and the whooshing of flame gave indication that Fleur's family had gone.
There were more goodbyes and Bill, then his bride left as well.
The doorknob rattled and Harry withdrew to the shadows. He tried to draw Hermione with him but she resisted. She pulled the hood of the Invisibility Cloak over her head once more. Ginny opened the door and walked out, heading to the roost where the chickens were. Ginny entered and Harry caught a glimpse of a familiar white owl. For the first time that night the profound sense of what he had lost hit him again.
In a few moments Arthur, Molly, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, and Ron came outside. Wielding their wands they began to put away the trappings of the wedding. Tables, chairs, food, and linen began flying, stacking, and packing. In short order all was set to rights and the Weasleys retired for the night.
From the shadows, Harry wondered what Hermione was going to do. Before the Weasleys began their work, he noticed the door open slightly; Hermione had gone inside the house. Harry did not know whether to be angry or frightened, but there was nothing he could do. If he moved to the door he might be seen, and he had no wish to hypnotize his family. After the Weasleys had gone inside, he was afraid that if he opened the door from the outside he might set off an alarm. All he could do was wait.
The stars wheeled overhead. Harry was feeling lonely, he understood a little why Hermione was keeping him at a distance; she rightly blamed him for her present predicament. He resolved to demonstrate to her that he would keep his word to release her from an intolerable existence, while trying not to intrude on her grief. As time passed, he could tell from the change in the rhythms of the Weasley's heartbeats that they were all asleep.
Upstairs, Hermione had watched Ron prepare for bed. She calmed his mind and he fell asleep. She approached his bedside, listening to his heartbeat. This close she could smell his blood. The hunger stirred within her and she toyed with the idea that she could make him a vampire too. She could condemn him to endless nights of hunting for blood. Then she thought about the way he behaved in school. He stole a Fanged Frisbee she had confiscated, that fiasco with Lavender Brown, and Harry told her he had thrown a knife at his brothers. He was certainly insensitive and lazy. He strutted when others noticed his accomplishments, bragging endlessly when others showed the slightest interest. How would he handle the powers that came with being a vampire? If he called undue attention to himself, he would doom them all. How long could they last if the Muggles learned that there were real vampires? The Ministry of Magic and the other vampires would hunt him relentlessly; they would have to. How would the Weasleys handle the disgrace of having a monster in the family? She loved them too much to take Ron from them; she loved Ron too much to hurt him like Harry had hurt her. In the end she bent down and kissed him. Ron reacted sharply to the touch of her cold, dry lips. He tried to brush her kiss away. Hermione was crushed; it seemed that even in his sleep Ron recognized the touch of her unclean lips. She straightened up and entered his mind.
It was after midnight when Hermione left the Burrow. She joined Harry, and they made their way to the spot where he had hidden his Firebolt. "What did you do?" he asked.
"I said goodbye to Ron, and I took the memory of the prophecy and the Horcruxes from his mind. Now that he believes we are dead he might have told what he knows about it. Voldemort might attack because he will believe that there is no one to stop him. Everyone else will despair because they will believe that there is no one to save them."
Harry could not fault her reasoning.
"You will keep your promise, to kill me after Voldemort is dead? I don't know how long I can do this," she whined.
"Yes, Hermione, I will give you the peace you long for," he promised. They mounted the Firebolt and flew back to London.
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The next morning everyone except Ron gathered for breakfast. Molly went upstairs to rouse him, but when she knocked on his door he said, "Come in."
She found him sitting up, staring into space. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes. Will you be coming down?" He nodded absentmindedly. Molly turned and left, she was disturbed by the blank look on Ron's face.
Just as everyone was tucking into the porridge, eggs, sausage, and toast, Ron came down. Percy was filling Arthur on some leads in Harry's disappearance. Ron looked at them and said sadly, "You won't find Harry, he's dead. Hermione is too." Ginny dropped her glass and stared at him.
"How can you be so sure?" asked Arthur. Everyone was looking at Ron as if he had gone mental. Not even Fred or George tried to find something flippant to say.
"I saw Hermione in a dream last night. She came to say goodbye and that she was going with Harry."
Molly came and laid her hand on Ron's arm, "Want to tell us about it?"
Ron's eyes filled with tears. "I dreamed I was walking in the orchard. I came to a fence," he looked defensively at his family, "I know there is no fence there, but there was in my dream. I looked across the fence, and Hermione was sitting in the grass. She was wearing a white dress and she had little white flowers in her hair."
"She smiled at me and said, 'Hi, Ron.' I asked her where she was and she told me she was in the land of the dead. I couldn't help myself; I asked her what had happened to her, and she … got this funny look and … and she said that she couldn't remember exactly … that she remembered being afraid and in a lot of pain … but then she smiled again, and said that it didn't matter now."
"I tried to climb the fence, but I couldn't get over it. She laughed and told me that I was being silly. Her laughter was beautiful; she didn't laugh much when we were in school." He shrugged his shoulders, "I wonder why we didn't laugh together."
Ginny couldn't help thinking, "Because you kept hurting her feelings," but she said nothing.
"Anyway, she said the only way to cross the fence was to die. Then she got serious and told me that I'd cross the fence one day, but she hoped that I wouldn't be in a big hurry. She stood up and pointed to a grove of trees across the field, 'Harry's over there, he wants me to tell you goodbye. He said to tell you what happened to him wasn't your fault.' I could see him too. Like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. He was waving to me. I asked Hermione why he didn't come to the fence. She told me that once you were across the fence you could only move away from it. 'I waited to say goodbye to you. Harry told me not to come to him until I had, since we can't come back.' I asked her where they were going, and she pointed to a mountain. It was the biggest mountain I've ever seen, but there was no snow around the top. 'There is a city there, Harry and I will wait for you.' I asked if she and Harry were going to get married, I don't know why I asked that. She just laughed at me again. 'Love isn't like that here, Ron. It is deeper, richer, and it is eternal. It isn't exclusive like it is in marriage, but it isn't physical either. Marriage and sex are for where you are. Earthly love is transcended here; your earthly love is like the first step on the path. You will learn to love differently here.' Then she got up and began walking toward Harry. She turned once and said, 'Don't worry about us, we'll be fine. We will think of you often. As much as we can, we will help you fight You-Know-Who.' Well, she didn't say You-Know-Who, but … and then … they were … gone."
Ron's voice trailed off as he tried to come to terms with his dream. The rest of breakfast was silent except for Molly's "Repairo" on Ginny's dropped glass.
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Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes did not open until twelve o'clock. Partly it was decadence on the part of the twins, who firmly believed that one's sense of humor did not function until high noon. Mostly it was because much of their business was Owl Post. The first part of the morning was spent preparing orders to be shipped.
They had Apparated from the Burrow at ten-thirty. By then Ron had begun to develop a sense of closure from his dream. Because of their mail order business, they had not lost too much in being closed for a couple of days. Verity, the salesgirl, arrived at noon, and the window displays once again lit up.
Business was rather slow during the afternoon, but it was rather early for the students returning to Hogwarts to begin their shopping. Fred and George were experimenting in their workshop through the late afternoon hours. They could hear the sound of the bell announcing the few customers that came and went.
Darkness had fallen and the twins were finishing their experiments for the day when Verity came into the lab. She looked rather frightened. "Could one of you help this customer, I don't know why but this person just gives me the collywobbles."
Fred and George were intrigued at what kind of person could upset such a grounded, out-going witch like Verity. Together they entered the front of the store. Standing between the shelves was an ominous figure, clad in a black, deeply hooded cloak, exactly the kind the Death Eaters wore. The customer was standing very still, apparently reading the descriptions of the jokes on the shelf. There was something in the air, a kind of psychic warning that this person was dangerous.
Fred and George looked at each other nervously. Fred then stepped toward the customer speaking in a bright, cheery voice, "Good evening, is there something I can help you find?"
The hooded figure did not speak, but it plainly shook its head "no." As Fred approached it held out a warning hand, bidding him to stop. Fred stopped. He could not help but notice the outlandish way the person was clothed. He thought he recognized the swell of breasts so he now thought of their customer as she, but she was dressed in a dark, heavy cloth outfit consisting of a jacket and trousers. She was also wearing pads on her knees and elbows, as well as lace-up boots.
Suddenly, the figure stiffened. Before he could react the figure closed on him. She grabbed him by the front of his robes and pulled him toward her. Once he was off balance, she forced him gently but irresistibly to the floor. Now that he was down she drew a wand, and moved toward the front of the store.
The front door was kicked open with a resounding crash. Verity screamed as several hooded and masked figures stormed into the room. George grabbed Verity and pushed her down behind the counter. He quickly drew his wand and stood up.
Red flashes erupted from the front of the store. Their mysterious customer was blasting the intruders with non-verbal stunning spells. The Death Eaters fell back before the onslaught. The mysterious figure jumped over the display and landed in the doorway. It grabbed two Death Eaters and slammed them together with bone-jarring crunch. The broken Death Eaters sank to the ground as the lithe figure slipped into the darkness.
George hurtled out the front of the store. There were loud shouts and curses coming from the surrounding darkness. The night was rather dark, with clouds scudding across a waning moon. As he waited for his eyes to adjust he began to notice that there were cloaked forms lying in the street, all of them were masked.
Several loud cracks announced the arrival of Aurors from the Ministry. Someone shouted, "Halt!" at George.
He shouted back, "I'm George Weasley, this is my shop! The Death Eaters are attacking us!"
With the arrival of the Aurors, several black, cloaked figures began running down the street towards Knockturn Alley. The Aurors lit their wands and began to sort out the situation by casting binding spells on the fallen.
George and a couple of Aurors ran after the fleeing Death Eaters. Somewhere ahead of them a panicked voice cried out, "What are you doing? Let me go! Let me go!" As they closed the distance, George saw two figures struggling with a third. It appeared that the two were pulling the third away from the entrance to Knockturn Alley. The sound of footsteps announced that several other Aurors had joined them.
The Auror next to him cried out, "Halt! You there, stop that! Let him go!" He began firing stunning spells at the trio.
Distracted by the attack, the duo let their victim go. He twisted away and fled down Knockturn Alley. The twosome sped further down Diagon Alley. George and the two Aurors continued their pursuit of the pair; the rest of the Ministry wizards followed the Death Eaters down Knockturn Alley. Once the Death Eater had escaped from them, the duo rapidly drew away from their pursuers. George was somewhat out of shape and began to lag behind the Aurors, fighting a stitch in his side. One of the Aurors fired several more stunning spells after the speeding pair. A few, George swore, hit them, but the magic apparently had no effect.
A comfortable distance ahead of the Aurors, the couple slipped between two buildings. George knew, given the construction of the street, that it was a dead end for them. When he arrived at the spot, the Aurors were using their wand lights to scan the space between the buildings; there was no one there.
"Where could they have gone?" one was asking. "Are we outside the anti-Apparition jinx?"
"I don't think so. Kingsley said the jinx covered the whole alley."
After several minutes of poking around they gave up. They walked back to the store discussing the speed of the Death Eaters they were chasing and the apparent ineffectiveness of their magic to stop them.
Once back at Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, George gave a statement about what had happened. Verity had calmed down, but he found it slightly alarming that Fred was still quite shaken by his experience. Fred gave a statement to the Aurors, but George knew that his brother was hiding something.
It took a while before all the unconscious Death Eaters were hauled away. Verity gave her statement and left for the day. The twins gave her the next day off, with pay. Sometime, in all the commotion, Arthur arrived to check on his sons.
After everyone was gone he went with them to their rooms above the store to ask them a few questions about the attack. George poured three shots of Old Ogden's Firewhiskey as he told them about the chase down the alley. After he finished he said, "All right, Fred, I know you're hiding something, what gives?"
Fred turned pale, "You've got to promise you won't tell Ron, not ever! If you don't, I won't say."
"Okay."
"No, I mean swear," demanded Fred.
"All right, I swear I won't tell Ron what you say." George and Arthur looked at one another, surprised by Fred's earnestness.
Fred drew a deep breath and polished off his whiskey in one gulp; "I saw the face of the person in the cloak when she forced me down behind the display." He paused, trying to summon the words he needed. "I touched her hand. Do you remember when Aunt Martha died? We dared each other to touch her?" George nodded. "You remember how her hand felt?"
"Yes," George replied.
"Her hand felt like Aunt Martha's, cold and hard. I saw her face … her hand was dead … but the way she moved … I don't think that she noticed that I saw her face … and fangs. Merlin's beard, it was a vampire." He began to shake. "I saw her face, it was Hermione Granger." He covered his face with his hands. "My God, George, Hermione is a vampire."
George swallowed hard, Arthur looked shocked beyond words. "Fred, what do you think about the other one outside? They were all wearing those hooded cloaks so; I couldn't tell who anyone was. But I'd bet that the two that ran off down Diagon Alley weren't with the others. All the real Death Eaters made for Knockturn Alley. They were about the same size…"
"Harry" all three of them said as one. Harry and Hermione together in Ron's dream was too big a coincidence. "They must have come to the wedding. You think? They'd have to be close to plant those thoughts in Ron's mind," asked George. Arthur nodded.
"That's the second time they've come to the Burrow." Arthur confided about the Death Eaters coming on the previous Friday night, and what the Aurors found on the following Monday. "The fact that they are vampires explains a lot. It also seems that they don't mean us any harm. They got me to increase the wards around the Burrow."
"What are we going to do?" asked Fred.
"Don't tell anyone else about this. I need to decide what to do, who to talk to," answered Arthur. "What would they want with that Death Eater?" he wondered aloud.
"You mean besides having him for breakfast?" quipped George. His joke broke the tension in the room. It felt good to laugh, because the thought of Harry and Hermione being undead hurt too much to cry and they needed to do something.
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The Firebolt dropped out of the sky and swooped to a stop on the broad, shadowy loading dock. Evidently one could fly out of Diagon Alley, but could not fly in. Harry was furious that the Aurors had interfered with his capturing one of the Death Eaters. He just stood there seething as Hermione walked toward the doors leading into the factory.
"Hermione?" thought Harry, "I wanted to thank you for going into the store. I know it was hard for you to be that close to the Weasleys. You were great."
Hermione stopped for a moment. Her emotions were in turmoil again. She was grieving once again the death of her dreams and hopes of finding someone to love her. It was still so easy to blame Harry for doing this to her. She ignored him and proceeded to their lair. She could think of it no other way, like she was now some kind of beast.
She changed her clothes and sat brooding in the dark as the hunger grew within her. Hermione's conscience was reproving her about her ignoring Harry's attempt to compliment her. In the past he was so self-involved that he did not seem to realize how much she sacrificed for him. Now, at least, he acknowledged she had done something difficult and she had thrown it back in his face.
"Harry?" she called. He did not answer. She tried to feel him, but he was not within range of her awareness. Hermione walked back up to the dock, but Harry was not there. She moved on to the roof even though she knew he was not there either. The stars were beautiful and she relaxed as she watched the interplay between the clouds and moon.
As the night went on she began to feel somewhat disturbed. Harry had never left her before. She tried to feel him, but he was still beyond the range of her senses. The hunger was becoming more insistent. At last she left the rooftop and made her way down the street toward the apartments.
Hermione wasn't far from the bus stop when she felt a human presence stalking her. The man needed money and he was not particular about where he got it as long as he did not have to work for it.
As he approached her from behind, he gloated about easy prey. When he awoke in the alleyway the next morning he wondered if anyone had seen the truck that must have hit him. It was a long time before all the bruises faded and he never went back to that neighborhood again.
Hermione returned to the lair. She wondered if she could figure out where Harry had gone. After a time, she tried to focus her thoughts on Harry, stretching the boundaries of her vampire senses. She had just fed and the hunger no longer disturbed her concentration.
She entered a trance. Instead of feeling everything around her, she focused on Harry, trying to feel his location. Suddenly she seemed to have a vision. She was in a dark, quiet place, surrounded by shelves of books. "Harry?" she thought. It was as if a door slammed in her face and she was thrown back to the lair. Hermione sat up on her desktop bed, she was aware that Harry was nursing some deep pain. He was somewhere trying to find something. He was aware she had contacted his mind and he had violently shut his mind against her. A wave of sadness flowed through her conscience, now she regretted her earlier rudeness. Harry needed her; it was the one thing that still made her feel useful. She realized that in trying to hurt Harry she was only wounding herself.
It was not long before she felt someone Apparate to the loading dock. She felt Harry approach and opened the door for him. "Harry I'm sorry," she began, "I was rude to you earlier this evening. I promise to be more polite in the future; it will help us work together."
Harry merely nodded his head, but she could feel him relax his guard somewhat. "Where did you go?" she queried.
"I'll tell you later."
Neither of them said anything further and they spent the rest of the night brooding about the gulf that existed between them. Harry felt the enormity of the task before him, and wondered how he could kill Voldemort when his victory would cost him his only friend as well.
When they rose the following evening Harry asked Hermione to follow him. He took some Muggle money and his Invisibility Cloak. Dressed as Muggles they made their way to the bus stop. They caught the bus and rode toward central London. After making a couple of changes Hermione knew that they were headed back toward the section if London where she had grown up. Hermione tried looking into Harry's thoughts trying to figure out what he had in mind, but he had shut her out.
At last Harry led Hermione from the bus and they began walking along a quiet street. The night was soft and cool. The persistent fogs that beset England did not form on this evening. Their vampire senses did not record the presence of humans on the street.
Harry proceeded to a church several blocks from where they descended from the bus. At the gate to the churchyard he drew his wand and unlocked the gate. "Why are we here, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I needed to show you something," he replied. The pair wandered for several minutes as Harry tried to find his bearings. Harry seemed to find what he was looking for and they headed toward a park-like area of the churchyard. In the center of the garden was an octagonal structure adorned with brass plaques. Hermione felt a sense of foreboding as they approached.
"It seems like you've been saying goodbye to everything that you knew, hoped for, and dreamed of. I brought you here so you could make another farewell, and so that you know that I will keep my promise to you."
On the south wall he pointed out three plaques, one name on each one. They read: Hugh B. Granger, Hermione J. Granger, and Janet K. Granger. The date of death on each of the plaques was the same. "I brought you here so that you could say goodbye, and see where you will be resting after Voldemort is finished. I won't be far, but I know that you'd like some privacy."
He started to turn, but Hermione grabbed his arm. The enormity of death and its awesome finality was on the verge of overwhelming her. Harry placed his arm around her shoulders and stood beside her. After a while Hermione began to calm down, at last she sighed and said, "Thanks Harry, I think I would like some time alone." Harry was startled to hear her voice, but he liked it just the same. Harry draped the Invisibility Cloak around her and he walked away.
Harry found a bench within sight of the mausoleum and sat down. Again, he was coming to grips with the idea that defeating Voldemort was going to cost him something he now realized was very precious - his relationship with Hermione. In spite of his emotional pain the vampire within him was enjoying the feeling of moonlight on his skin; he spread his senses into the dark. Suddenly, he was aware of someone Apparating nearby. Harry moved toward the person who was approaching the mausoleum. He was able to hide behind several large gravestones as he attempted to find out who was approaching.
The robed figure looked rather small as it came on. As the person drew up to him Harry could tell it was a woman. He threw a small stone to attract the visitor's attention. With surprising speed the witch turned with her wand drawn. Unfortunately for her she looked into Harry's eyes and she was caught. Harry swiftly dominated her. "Who are you?" he demanded.
"My name is Nymphadora Tonks," she said blankly. The woman's features flowed like water and Harry recognized the Auror.
"What are you doing here?"
"I had a friend who was kidnapped, her parents are buried here. I come here to talk to her spirit, since I believe she is dead. I want her to know that I am doing everything I can to see she is laid to rest with her family." The Auror droned in a monotone.
Harry quickly got Tonks to tell him everything the Aurors knew about Voldemort and the dementors. "Tonks," he commanded, "You will hear my call, and you will come to this place. You will not remember me, but you will obey. Drink!" Harry cut his wrist and forced Tonks to swallow some of his blood. "Go home now; be at peace about Hermione, she knows how you are trying to help her. She is grateful to you, smile when you remember her."
Harry gently led Tonks away from the churchyard. "Your grief is lessened by your visit. Farewell for now; be ready when I call." Tonks disappeared and Harry returned to Hermione. She did not seem to have noticed Tonks' interruption.
After a time they left the cemetery walking more closely together than before. "Thank you, Harry. This place is beautiful."
"We will come back, but tomorrow night we will leave for Manchester. The dementors appear to be massing there."
The following evening they packed their belongings and flew to Manchester.