Chapter Two –
Empty Burrow
Two reviews eh? Well, I'm happy to write this fic anyway, I love every moment of it. However, reviews are nice! (Like you've never heard that before…)
Harry was completely amazed. There were three Animagi running around his street. One of them happened to be Mrs. Figg. Not only was this a strange sight, there were Death Eaters there too. Harry didn't know what to think. For one thing, the bear was doing a good job at keeping the Death Eaters away. Another strange thing was that the Death Eaters weren't using magic. It was illegal, but they were evil – Harry was getting extremely confused.
"Snuffles" the dog was running at a record pace toward the action. He was barking and gnashing his sharp teeth. Harry would have been startled by the dog hadn't he known that it was Sirius Black, his fugitive godfather. The dog leaped in the air and knocked down one of the masked men. Unfortunately for him, his mask was torn apart and Harry glanced and saw that it was – Lucious Malfoy. If the Ministry were only there!
After that, the duck was sitting by Harry. He became a little uneasy by this. After all, he technically wasn't supposed to be out of the house. But this was one scene Harry couldn't miss. But then the duck began to peck at him. She was soon quaking and nudging Harry away. This wasn't fun. The grizzly bear stop his antics along with the dog. Soon, the three Death Eaters glanced at Harry. This wasn't good.
The duck transformed back to Mrs. Figg. Harry tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. Instead, Arabella Figg took matters into her own hands by focusing on the palm of her hands and pointing them at Harry. Suddenly, yellow beams and flashes came out of them! Harry stood aback, but had no time to react. After the flashes were gone, Harry found himself in his bedroom.
Unaware that the yellow beams were the magic that sent him back to his house, Harry raced down the stairs and approached the front door. He couldn't open it.
"Don't think you'll be going anywhere soon, Harry," a voice said from behind – Mrs. Figg!
"Oh, I'm sorry! It's just that Sirius Black and" Harry paused. "DEATH EATERS ARE OUT THERE!"
Mrs. Figg smiled. "Yes, I know. I was out there! After all, I'm an Auror. We're part of an elite Auror group, forced to protect Hogwarts and other similar matter. It's quite convenient that your relatives happen to live here. I'm getting old, after all."
"You guys are here to protect me?" Harry asked.
"I am here to protect you! Mundungus Fletcher and Sirius Black are here to tell me about the extra business I have to do – mind you I'm not telling! And I wouldn't worry about those Death Eaters. They can't hurt a fly! This area is magically sealed. Only Aurors can use magic. Muggles didn't even know that it happened!"
Harry was a bit alarmed by Mrs. Figg's "perkiness." Harry thought it was serious business while she acted as if dealing with Death Eaters was a game.
"But what about me? I've used magic before. You know? My Aunt Marge?" Harry mentioned.
"Oh, that! Well, I control the magic use around this vicinity! As an Auror, we have special privileges. Now, enough with the explanations; Sirius wants to talk to you!"
As if on cue, the black dog entered from the kitchen and was transforming back to the clean Sirius Black.
"Harry, you weren't supposed to go out there! There was a grizzly bear and Death Eaters!" Black stammered.
"I know, but I couldn't help it. You were making quite a raucous," Harry replied.
"It doesn't matter. If there were a large pack of stampeding erumpents out there would you rush outside to see them?" Black's point came across quite well.
"Oh, Sirius, just get on with it. Harry's had a tough few weeks of the summer. It's time he knows what's going on!" Mrs. Figg said.
"Yes, I agree with you, Arabella." Sirius glanced at Harry. "Ok, I won't be coming back around here for a while. I have to find Lupin and that could take a while. Fletcher might stop by every once and a while. But I won't even be responding to owls. You need to stay at this house until Dumbledore says you can leave. This is very important, Harry."
Harry nodded. "Yes, I know. Dumbledore sent me an owl today explaining all of that."
"Good," Sirius said.
Then the human Mundungus Fletcher appeared. He was younger than Harry imagined. He had shaggy brown hair that was styled to look like he was some rock star almost. Harry liked it. He also had a small bit of hair below his upper lip. Then he had thick black framed glasses that were in a square shape. He was cool.
"Hey, you guys. I think they're crying back to their mommies. We gave them quite a beating!" Fletcher said. "Say, this is the Harry Potter, huh?" Harry nodded. "Cool, kid. I'm Mundungus Fletcher. My friends call me Moo."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Moo? Well, we don't call you that! I think it's more around the lines of Fletcher. Anyway, we did something very risky today. Allowing our unregistered Animagus forms to be seen by those Death Eaters. I'm not sure what we can do about that."
"Sirius, don't worry. Moo and I whipped up some pretty radical Memory Charms!" Arabella said. "That's why they left in a hurry. I don't blame you for wondering where Harry went."
Harry thought the discussion was a little comical. Mrs. Figg was almost like a much older version of Fred and George and Mundungus Fletcher was like a guy that wanted to stay like a kid. Harry figured he had to be in his mid to late twenties.
"Well, I should be off – have to find Remus pretty quickly. The hard part is looking for a place where no human could ever live. Then you have to find some shabby hut in the middle of no where! Maybe Dumbledore knows where he is! I'm off to Hogwarts then! Harry, you stay here! I'm serious!" Black said.
"Oh would you look at that! Sirius is serious!" Mrs. Figg chimed. Fletcher gave her a puzzled look along with Harry.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Harry. I gotta go too!" Fletcher sped out of the front door (which mysteriously opened before he even reached the doorknob) with his brown robes flying behind him.
"Harry, you know where I live. But I don't want you coming near my house. Those Death Eaters were there for a reason. They're trying to get to me so they can get to you. We don't want that to happen now do we?"
"What don't we want to happen?" said a very angry, deep voice. Harry saw that Uncle Vernon was coming home for lunch. "Did that boy do something outrageous? We must punish him, Arabella!"
"Oh no! I was just telling Harry that we don't want those beautiful flowers to be scorched by the sun in your front yard! I'm sure that Petunia wouldn't mind us watering them?" Mrs. Figg winked at Harry.
"No need to, some weird college boy trampled strait through them. I would've suspected Harry to do that. But it seems that one of his friends was having fun!" Uncle Vernon sneered.
"That's my nephew Jordan! I'm sorry about that. I will be happy to replace them. Well, Jordan will probably be wanting his hot ham and cheese and pickle sandwich special made by his Auntie Arabella," Mrs. Figg said.
"Are you sure?" Uncle Vernon wondered.
"Oh yes! I'm certain. He's making quite the fashion sense with that weird clothing now! I don't understand what people are getting into these days!" Mrs. Figg winked at Harry again. "Well, I must be off now! Ta-ta!"
"Well, boy. You could have been in deep trouble. But that Figg lady is strange. Go vacuum the entire upstairs!"
Harry raced up the stairs. He glanced outside and saw that a wonderful daisy patch was ruined. But then Harry decided to get the vacuum out immediately. Uncle Vernon was in an alarming mood. He was a little more pleasant than usual. Harry didn't want to disrupt that for the entire world.
* * *
Harry smiled after he finished the various chores he was ordered to do. He noticed that the daisies were shining wonderfully. There was no doubt Mrs. Figg was responsible. Harry then decided that he would write back to Ron.
Dear Ron,
That vacation island looks really cool. However, I've been told various times that I can't go to your house anytime soon. Today there were Death Eaters near my neighbor's (Mrs. Figg) house. She's an Auror! She can also turn into a duck. There was another Animagus there too. He was Mundungus Fletcher. He was this powerful grizzly bear. But I won't say too much about all this. It was cool. Mrs. Figg is protecting me and has like a magical force field around the neighborhood. The Death Eaters couldn't use any magic.
Oh yeah Snuffles was there too. Hopefully, things will turn out ok though! See you sometime!
HARRY
Harry took Hedwig and sent it to the Burrow, awaiting another possible reply.
* * *
A full week passed by before Harry even saw Hedwig. The sad thing was that she brought back Harry's letter.
"Couldn't you find him?" Harry asked. Hedwig just cooed mournfully. Harry glanced at the letter to see if there was any sort of reply. Hmm, where could he be? I suppose that he could be at the island. But you would think Ron would write again." Harry sighed and lulled around his room.
The weeks turned into a full month. Harry had written four additional letters to Ron. Hedwig just flew back within the next few days. He thought about writing to someone else just to see if there wasn't any force field against him writing letters. Maybe Mrs. Figg was behind it. But if Hedwig was gone for days then she must've been able to send the letters.
"Ok, I'll give you four days to rest. Then, I want you to go to the Burrow and bring me anything from the house that will let me know that I can actually send a letter." Hedwig cocked her head and hopped to her cage and slept. Harry smiled.
Pretty soon it was a full week before Harry's birthday. He wasn't expecting any cards or gifts yet. Harry thought about waiting for Ron to send him a gift, but he was too impatient. Hedwig flew off for her task.
* * *
Two days later, Harry's wonderful owl brought back a fake wand that was badly broken. Harry found it to be a little odd. But then again, it was clearly a fake wand. In fact, Harry saw the initials WWW etched on the bottom. There were burn marks on it.
Now, Harry would've normally thought the unnatural look of the fake wand was because it had been used. But things just didn't add up in his head. That's why Harry packed up his things, hoping the magic force field was on, and headed for the Burrow.
Surprisingly, Harry didn't get a letter from the Ministry of Magic for magically putting everything in one suitcase and for making it magically lighter. Did Mrs. Figg know about it though? It was too late. Harry had already made his way to the Burrow with this Invisibility Cloak on while riding his Firebolt.
When Harry arrived at the Weasleys' house he felt his face sink. It wasn't cheery or full of the warm welcome that Harry would have usually felt upon arriving. Instead, it was terribly gloomy. Dark clouds hovered above the house. The house itself was in horrible conditions. Full windows were knocked out. The back door was lying in the garden, making the gnomes very angry.
Harry took the liberty to enter the house and found it in ruins. It was completely ransacked. This isn't happening, Harry thought. He rushed upstairs and found out that the whole place was deserted. As he sulked down the stair he saw someone with bright red hair approach him.
"What happened, Harry?" Charlie asked.
I feel so bad for writing this incredibly wonderful cliffhanger. I know everybody hates them. But like I've said before, I love them. Also, I've said that I'm not afraid to do some extreme things. Here's the beginning of it all!
-Lynkin
