Chapter Three
The Journey Back to Ottery St. Catchpole
It was lucky that Harry had packed immediately, because the Weasley's came the very next day. They had written back as soon as they got the letter to say that they would arrive at around five o'clock in the afternoon.
At five minutes to five, Harry was sitting in the living room, watching Dudley's favourite show, 'The Cyborg Annihilators.' Dudley, who was looking deflated and sombre, was apprehensively watching the front door. This was perfectly understandable, because Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper, had once given him a tail, and Fred Weasley, Ron's brother, had made his tongue grow to four feet long three years ago.
Then, just as Dudley began to relax and settle down, the doorbell rang, and Harry jumped to his feet and ran to the door. He opened the door, but found the path empty. Just as he was about to close the door, three different sets of feet walked in the door, and two of the voices muttered-
"Visio!"
Before Harry's eyes his friend Ron Weasley, and his two brothers, Fred and George, all clutching broomsticks, appeared out of thin air.
"Hey Harry!" said Ron.
"How are you doing Harry?" said Fred and George simultaneously, with a quick evil glance at Dudley, whose fat bottom could now be seen disappearing into the kitchen.
"Head Boy eh?" said Ron, "bet they're really proud," he continued, with a quick glance towards the kitchen.
"Oh yeah, ecstatic," said Harry, grinning from ear to ear, "I'll go and get my stuff."
With that, Harry jogged into the hall, and leapt up the stairs, three at a time. He returned three minutes later, carrying his suitcase and clutching his Firebolt.
"Ready then Harry?" said Ron, "Remember the invisio charm?"
"Yep, but my wand got smashed remember?" replied Harry.
"Doesn't matter," said Ron, "Fred and George have to do it. We're still underage."
"Oh yeah," replied Harry, feeling a bit stupid, "better say goodbye to the Dursleys," he continued, turning towards the kitchen, "See you Dudley," he said, as he spotted Dudley's head poking around the corner.
"Time to go Harry," said George.
"Get ready," said Fred.
Before Harry could say or do anything else, Fred and George had disappeared, and moments later, Harry felt a warm tingling sensation which meant he had disappeared, and he could see Fred and George again. Harry would have found this strange, but he knew full well that all people under the influence of the invisio charm could see each other.
"Lets get going then," said Ron.
"Someone needs to bewitch my suitcase first," Harry said, with a quick glance at Fred and George.
"Oh, right… there you go, light as a feather," muttered George as he bewitched Harry's suitcase.
"Right then, let's go," said Fred, and all four of them kicked off into the sky.
"Which way then?" asked Ron.
"I've got you covered," replied George, reaching for his wand, "Point me!"
George's wand spun round and pointed north. He looked at George, who seemed to know what he was thinking.
"Ottery St. Catchpole is north-east of here."
"Right then," said Harry, "lets go that way." Harry pointed northeast with his left forefinger.
At last, after over a month away from the wizarding world, Harry was back where he belonged. The wind rustling in his hair, his jacket billowing in the wind, high above the ground, it was a breathtaking experience. He was viewing the muggle world as he had never seen it before.
Miles and miles of hundreds of rooftops, all belonging to factories, businesses, or homes, and people whom Harry could barely see, down on the ground, going about their daily business, blissfully unaware that four wizards were flying overhead at that very moment. There was almost endless countryside, with cattle grazing peacefully down on the ground, chewing away at the grass.
Harry then went up, and flew high above the clouds, it was a beautiful sight. Wisps of cloud of every type imaginable, forming indescribably brilliant shapes of all sizes and descriptions. Moments later, Ron flew up as well, an awing look on his face.
"Wow," he said, "haven't seen the clouds like this since our second year."
In Harry and Ron's second year at Hogwarts, the barrier onto platform nine and three quarters had been blocked by a House-Elf named Dobby. To get to Hogwarts, Harry and Ron had stolen Mr. Weasleys flying car, flying above the clouds to avoid being seen by muggles.
Once the awesome effect of the clouds had worn off, and when they were starting to get very hot, Harry and Ron swooped down again to view the earth once more.
Fred and George were still flying along beneath them at full speed on their Nimbus 2002's, bought with the phenomenal profits their business brought in, talking animatedly about new ideas for items to sell in their joke shop.
After several minutes of listening in on the conversation, and learning a great deal about how to design and build an effective dungbomb, successfully produce a canary cream, and temporarily transfigure a biting teacup into a salad bowl, Harry turned to Ron.
"How long did it take you to get to Privet Drive Ron?" asked Harry, whilst looking at a bald man in rubber gloves trying to pile up fertiliser without a shovel.
"Oh, about two hours, give or take about ten minutes or so, if we go in a straight line and don't veer off course," he replied, now gazing intently at a muggle working on their car.
After a few minutes of silence, Harry and Ron spent the next hour pointing out things muggles were doing on the ground that looked a little odd. Among the most laughter inducing was a woman milking a cow that kept trying to kick her, a muggle postman being attacked by a particularly vicious looking German shepherd, and a very large man who had just walked into a parked car.
Then, about a quarter of an hour away from Ottery St. Catchpole, Harry, Ron, Fred and George caught sight of Stoatshead Hill, a landmark that lay a little way away from the village.
"Nearly there," said Fred, drawing his attention away from a muggle woman who had just tripped over in the mud, "not too far to go now."
However, as the four of them approached Stoatshead Hill, a mass of black came into view. Harry had a perplexed look on his face, and judging by the similar look on the others faces, they had noticed the strange amount of black too.
"What the…" whispered George
Harry made a gesture down towards the forest area surrounding the hilltop, and they all silently nodded in agreement.
Harry, Ron, Fred and George glided silently down, landing quietly about twenty metres away from the clearing. As they crept closer they could clearly see at least a hundred men, hooded and masked in long sweeping cloaks, all camped out in the large clearing.
"Oh my…" muttered Ron, edging closer to where the hooded figures were standing.
"They're Death Eaters!" said Fred, but a little too loudly.
The nearest Death Eater span round sharply, peering intently around where the four of them were, his eyes filled with suspicion.
"Oh dear," whispered Harry, and they all simultaneously started creeping back, away from the clearing.
But the Death Eater was coming still closer, pushing the branches aside as he went, and walking with great loping strides.
"He won't be able to see us though will he?" whispered Ron.
"Can't take that chance," replied Fred so quietly that Harry could barely hear him.
Then, the four of them dived behind a bush, when the Death Eater was mere feet away from them. Just when they thought they'd had it, and he came level with them, he muttered something to himself about getting his hearing checked, turned around and headed back to the clearing.
"That," whispered Ron, "was close."
"I suggest we leave," muttered George, and they turned around, Harry in the lead, and silently headed down the hill.
* * *
Harry, Ron, Fred and George all landed loudly on the driveway of the Burrow, not bothering to keep quiet. Harry would have taken a good look at Ron's home, but like the others, he was completely preoccupied by what he had just seen. What where the Death Eaters doing in such large numbers out on top of a hill? Why had they come to Ottery St Catchpole? All these questions raced through Harry's mind as he dismounted his Firebolt and followed Ron to the front door.
Using the Alohomora Charm, Ron sent the door flying open, and crashed into the Weasley's hallway. The four of them ran into the living room, where Arthur Weasley was sitting, reading an article in the Daily Prophet about recent muggle killings.
"Dad!" yelled all three Weasley's simultaneously.
Upon hearing the Weasley's shouts, Arthur Weasley leapt out of his chair in shock and span his head round in every direction, looking for where the voices had come from.
"Why can't he see us?" asked Ron.
"Because we're still invisible?" said Harry sarcastically.
"Oh yeah… Fred? George?" replied Ron.
Within seconds, all four of them had returned to full view, and Arthur Weasley realised where the voices had come from. Instantaneously, they all launched into telling him what had happened.
"On the hill…"
"Loads of people…"
"Death Eaters!"
"Loads of them…"
"All camped out…"
"You-Know-Who!"
The mention of Lord Voldemort seemed to jolt Mr. Weasley back to his senses.
"Boys, Boys! PLEASE! Calm down!" Mr. Weasley shouted, yelling himself hoarse over the voices of four people talking at once, "Now, Harry, what happened?"
So Harry started his own explanation, from when the three Weasley's had come to collect him. Mr. Weasley gasped when Harry came to the moment when they were almost caught by one of the Death Eaters.
"What did you think you were doing?" he said in a half astonished, half-frightened voice.
However, he allowed Harry to continue, and by the time Harry had finished, he stood in complete silence, staring at them with a vacant look on his face.
"Dad?" said Ron, sounding slightly worried.
Arthur Weasley suddenly came back to his senses, with a look on his face that suggested he was thinking hard about which question he should ask first.
"Wh… Where did this happen?" Mr. Weasley stammered.
"On Stoatshead Hill dad," said Ron, sounding thoroughly exasperated.
"Are you boys sure you saw this?" asked Mr. Weasley.
"Of course we are dad!" shouted Ron, "why would we make it up?"
As Mr. Weasley stared down at the floor, Harry was sure he knew what Mr. Weasley was thinking.
If Mr. Weasley did alert the Ministry, he may end up being the hero for catching all those, Death Eaters, but if he called them in and there wasn't anything there, he'd be the laughing stock of the ministry, and might even be sacked. He seemed very reluctant to take that risk on the information provided by three of his sons and one of their friends.
"We weren't imagining it Mr. Weasley," said Harry, trying to egg Mr. Weasley into a decision.
As Harry said this, a decision seemed to form in Mr. Weasley's head that showed on his face. He looked dead set and resolute.
"Right boys, I'm of to the ministry, I'll be back in a few minutes," said Mr. Weasley, picking up his wand. In seconds, he had disapparated, and all they could do was wait.
"Hope they're still there when we get back," said Fred, watching the Weasley family clock as the hand labelled Arthur switched from travelling to work.
"Yeah," replied George, "it'd be really embarrassing for dad if he got half the ministry up there for nothing."
"Don't say that," said Ron in an imploring voice, "you'll jinx it."
Within minutes Mr. Weasley had returned, and thirty members of the ministry apparated along with him in the back garden. These people included Amos Diggory, the late Cedric's father, Jonathan Faulkner, the Head of department for Magical Law-Enforcement, and Elliot Weaver, recently appointed Minister for Magic.
"Where are they then Arthur?" a matter of urgency sounding in Weaver's voice.
"Up on Stoatshead Hill," Mr. Weasley replied, pointing out over the hedge of his garden.
"Right then, lets go," suggested Faulkner.
"Err… Jonathan?" said Diggory.
"Yes Amos?"
"Err… I don't mean to be above my position, but why don't we just apparate on Stoatshead Hill?"
"Well, Amos, as you have obviously failed to observe, if we apparate on Stoatshead Hill, we may appear right in the middle of many dangerous men all armed with wands that can do quite serious damage."
"Oh yeah… sorry."
"Okay then, lets get going," said Weaver.
With a few nods of agreement from his colleagues, Weaver ran at a jog out through the front door, and set off at pace down the street, the other members of the ministry, and Harry, Ron, Fred and George in pursuit.
It took this large group of men about twenty minutes to reach the bottom of Stoatshead Hill, at which point they had a short rest to catch their breath before starting up the hill.
"Do you think they're still up there?" asked Fred, peering up the hill into the trees.
"Probably," replied George, "with all those tents up it didn't look too temporary did it?"
At that moment, out of the crowd came Percy, looking very serious and cautious, staring up at the hilltop.
"Hello Harry! How are you?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the forest at the top of the hill.
"I'm okay. How are you?"
"Oh, well, I don't know if Ron's told you, but I've recently been appointed Deputy Minister for Magic." At this point, a wide grin broke out on his face and he turned to Harry. "It's a new position of course. I'm there should anything happen to the Minister himself. These days such precautions seem all too necessary."
Percy turned back to the hill, and with a few words to his brothers walked over to the Minister and began talking to him, pointing up at the hill.
Once Percy and the Minister had finished, the order was given to start up the hill. It took another five minutes to reach the outskirts of the forest, and at this point, Weaver stopped everybody, and dropped his voice to a whisper.
"We've got to proceed very quietly now, because nothing will be more valuable than the element of surprise."
Then they all crept into the forest, ducking in and out of the trees, until the front few reached the edge of the clearing. Everybody gradually reached the clearing, and it was Percy's voice that sounded.
"Err… Mr. Weaver Sir, there's… there's nothing here."
Every head in the crowd of ministry members, turned slowly around, and looked at Mr. Weasley, who was going as red as a beetroot, and then, even more slowly, they turned, and fixated on Harry, Ron, Fred, and George.
