Chapter 2: The Letter
When the sun rose that morning, Harry was still awake. He had forsaken any thoughts of sleep and was sitting on his bed, hugging his knees close to his chest as he watched the sun fade from gray to pink.
Why had the dream come again? The first few weeks of vacation it had been there, but then disappeared. He glanced up at his calendar. August 24. Why did it come just a week before he would leave for Hogwarts? He didn't want people to know about it and they would surely find out if he woke up crying every night.
Sighing, he headed to the kitchen, hoping that he might get there before Aunt Petunia and have more to eat than his slice of grapefruit. When he got there, however, the fridge was already open and he could hear Aunt Petunia rummaging through it. Sighing again, he sat roughly on a kitchen chair. The noise caused a face to pop up over the refrigerator door, a face that definitely wasn't Aunt Petunia's.
The face screamed at the same time as Harry, who fell over in his chair in surprise. Harry heard the fridge close and footsteps rushing toward him.
"Harry, are you all right?" a familiar voice asked.
"Sirius?" Harry questioned, shaking his head.
"Here," his godfather said, helping him up.
Finally upright, Harry got his first look at his godfather in months, and almost fell over again. He was even thinner than the he was the last time Harry saw him and his hair had grown a fair bit longer.
"You look-" Harry stopped short, not wanting to hurt his feelings.
"Awful? Horrendous? Grotesque?" Sirius smiled. "Yeah, I know. To think that at Hogwarts I could have had my pick of any girl. Well, except one Lily Evans. She had this thing for my best friend."
Harry smiled back. "Well, at least you look better than you did in Azkaban."
"But not by much."
Harry suddenly seemed to remember something. "What are you doing here?!" he asked in a panic, "You're supposed to be in hiding! They could find you!"
"Whoa, Harry. Relax. I've been hiding for a while now. I know what's safe and what's not, so trust me, okay?"
Harry nodded, but that didn't stop him from worrying. "So why are you here?"
"What? Do I need an excuse to visit my favorite godson?"
Harry smiled, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
"That's your cue to say 'I'm your only godson,'" Sirius whispered, making Harry laugh, "Well, that's reason one of three. The second is, I'm in need of some grub. Of course, I guess I've come to the wrong place. What's with all the grapefruit and celery sticks?"
"Dudley's on a diet."
"They want that boy to lose weight? I guess your aunt and uncle have a strong belief in miracles."
Harry smiled. "And what's reason number three?"
"I thought you might want to know what's going on in the wizarding word."
"Oh yeah!"
Sirius' smile was grim this time. "I'm afraid it's not all good news. Let's sit, this may take a while."
After grabbing a feast of grapefruit, carrots, and celery sticks, Sirius began.
"Well, Voldemort is back with a vengeance, and the Ministry still says that he hasn't returned. That Fudge is the most pompous idiot I've ever known. I almost wish that one day he would come home to find the dark mark over his house. Then maybe he'd believe."
"What about Dumbledore's resistance?"
"That, my boy, is the good news. Hagrid and Madame Maxime managed to sway the giants to our side. For now, at least. The old group of resistance has been meeting all summer and we've been getting new recruits. Voldemort, however, has been doing the same. Though we don't know exactly who, we think he is concentrating on the youth. You'll have to be careful this year at Hogwarts, Harry. You never know who has turned."
Harry's thoughts instantly flashed to Draco and he silently prayed that young recruits wouldn't know the killing curse.
"Never go anywhere without Ron or Hermione," Sirius continued, as though reading Harry's mind, "You'll be the most targeted so you must be the most wary."
Harry nodded, gulping.
"I'd better go," Sirius said, glancing out the window, "Don't want your 'family' to find me here. Oh, one last thing. If you ever want to know what's going on with the resistance, just go next door. Mrs. Figg would be happy to inform you."
Harry almost choked on his celery stick. "Mrs. Figg?!"
"Yes. Arabella Figg is part of the resistance. Didn't you know that?"
Harry shook his head. "No. Why is she always so awful to me then if she's Dumbledore's friend?"
"Well, she had to keep up the disguise. She's actually quite nice. Well, most of the time. I really need to go now. Goodbye, Harry."
He hugged his grandson, stuffed his pockets full of carrots, and then disappeared. Harry mulled over what he had just heard, chewing on a celery stick. Hogwarts wasn't going to be the most pleasant place anymore.
His thoughts were interrupted, however, when Aunt Petunia came in and screamed at him for having all the food out.
****
Harry was both nervous and excited. Tomorrow he would be going back to Hogwarts, but he wasn't sure what condition it would be in. Hedwig suddenly began to hoot. Harry was trying to quiet her when something darted into his window and landed on his bedpost. The small brown owl had a letter tied to his foot and a badge around his neck. Harry recognized the badge instantly as being from the Hogsmeade Owl Post. He removed the letter and the owl flew off.
He looked at the envelope, hoping to see Hermione's script or Ron's scribble. The printing, however, was in block letters and completely unfamiliar to Harry. There was also no return address. He opened it and unfolded the letter
BE
WARY, HARRY POTTER. THE DARK LORD
CREATES CHILDREN WITH NO MINDS. HOGWARTS SPELLS CONFUSION AND FEAR. WATCH FOR BLANK STARES AND DULL BRAINS. A FAMILY OF RED WILL BREAK FOREVER MORE. BEWARE THE DAY OF DREAMS.
Harry
stared at the letter, rereading it. It
still made no sense to him. Was it a
warning or a threat? He wasn't sure.
'Maybe
I should write Dumbledore,' he thought, 'No, wait. I'll be seeing him tomorrow. I can tell him then.'
After
slipping the letter in his trunk, which the Dursleys had let him keep this
year, Harry lied on his bed, thinking. Tomorrow he'd be going to Hogwarts.
~*~*~
A/N: Who could have written the letter? Mm, something to think about.
Sorry about putting in the Mrs. Figg/Arabella connection exactly as
it's been rumored to be. I just love that idea too much.
Well, enjoy. Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'd love to hear from you. ^-^
-Ady
