Chapter Twelve
Author's Note: Sorry for all of the typos in the last segment, and how long it's taken me to get a new chapter up. For some reason, my workshops just don't accept Harry Potter fan fiction…stupid Muggles. Anyhoo, all the proper nouns are J.K Rowling's, blah, blah, blah. Thanks to all who reviewed, I feel so special :-)
Harry woke up feeling like he'd battled all night with a league of Cornish Pixies. Through the gap in his curtains, he could see that Sirius, Ron and Ginny were all still asleep and that Hermione must have spent the night in the library. Turning on his side, which elicited a moan loud enough to stir Ginny and make Ron grumble "Eat troll boogers, Malfoy," Harry saw that it was nearly eight in the morning, the time when the Dursleys usually took breakfast. Maybe I'll just let them starve for one day, thought Harry. It'll do Dudley some good. But he still got out of bed, pulling his robes on as quietly as he could as he made his was down the stairs to the common room.
"Morning, Harry," greeted Hermione, looking up from the book that she had brought back from the library an hour earlier. Was it Harry's imagination, or did she sound a bit too cheerful?
"Good morning, Hermione. You eat yet?"
"No, I was going to wait for Ron and the others to come down. Where are you going?"
"Dursleys," Harry grumbled, receiving a look of pity from Hermione as he slowly climbed out of the portrait, wincing at the pain in his side. Harry was turning down the corridor to the Hufflepuff common room when he heard voices coming up the stairwell that led to the dungeons. As usual, his moral objections to eavesdropping flew out the window and he stopped dead in his tracks to listen.
"I don't want to hear it, Severus. It's out of the question!" Lupin sounded very angry and very annoyed.
"Listen, Lupin, I'm not saying that I'm not going to try to find it, but you must realize that, if I'm caught, I'm a dead man!"
"Of course I realize that! And I also know that Dumbledore won't ask you to do anything too dangerous."
"He won't have to ask. All he has to do is look at me with those damned trusting eyes and I'll feel guilty if I don't run off and give myself to Voldemort!"
"There might be other ways, Severus. Someone else could be able to get the Blood Stone and destroy it."
"Oh, don't be idiotic! There is no one else! I'm the only one near the inner circle, and Voldemort still doesn't trust me. There's no way we can insert another operative into the fold and expect them to ingratiate themselves in time to save Potter."
"Maybe it won't have to be a spy. It could be an open attack. We can't rush to conclusions."
"I'm not rushing, I'm just preparing. It's not like you have to lay your life on the line for that little wretch."
"I'd watch what you say about Harry, Severus. You might just find yourself in a painful position next full moon."
"Is that a threat, werewolf?"
An eerie growl echoed up to Harry's hallway.
"Look Lupin, I'm not saying I'm unwilling to look for it. But we should at least prepare ourselves for the other option. Owl Luca. Even if we don't need him to bite Harry, it'll still be smart to have one of the last neutral vampires on our side, wouldn't it?"
It sounded as if the two men were about to reach the top of the staircase, so Harry proceeded down the hall. "Helga," he whispered, finding his throat too tight to speak up.
"About bloody time, boy," greeted Uncle Vernon, a snarl on his face.
"Well, if you'd rather I send the house ELVES up from now on, that's fine by me," Harry retorted, not in the mood to take any grief from his family. At the mention of elves, Aunt Petunia started to sway on her feet and Dudley reverted to that fail-safe position of covering his bum with his hands. "Now follow me and pay attention, because I might not be around every morning to lead you to your meals." With that, Harry led the way down to the Great Hall, not entirely surprised when the Dursleys took their seats at the Slytherin table, as far away from the Head Table as possible. Professor Dumbledore was already seated there, along with Prof. McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, who were looking over what appeared to be a Muggle newspaper. Mr. Weasley must have left for America already. Turning his attention back to the Dursleys, he explained the idea behind the enchanted serving plates and then left them to take a seat at the Gryffindor table, not wanting to disturb the others.
"Harry, please, join us up here," welcomed Dumbledore, pointing to Professor Flitwick's empty chair. Nodding a greeting to McGonagall and Mrs. Weasley, Harry took his seat and set in on his plate of eggs and toast.
"I can't understand this bloody thing!" announced an exasperated Mrs. Weasley, tossing aside the newspaper and folding her arms over her chest.
"What are you looking for?" asked Harry, amused that the pout had spread to McGonagall's face as well.
"We're trying to find a house for your family," McGonagall answered, pointing to the classified section of the paper. "We just don't know where to start."
Taking up the paper, Harry saw the problem: they were looking in the "Help Wanted" section. "I don't understand why anyone would need a house that only works part time," said Mrs. Weasley. Harry, his head hurting too much to explain, simply turned to the real estate page, scanned the listings for a location near Privet Drive, and pointed out three houses to Professor McGonagall, very red in the cheek from embarrassment.
Just then, Lupin and Snape walked in, ceasing their argument the moment they saw Harry. Shooting a glare that he normally reserved for Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Harry Potter at the gluttonous Muggles polluting the Slytherin table, Snape took his seat beside Mrs. Weasley.
"Good morning Harry," greeted Lupin, trying to mask the tension in his face.
"'ello Remus," Harry returned, still not quite used to that name, or what he had heard his friend talking about earlier.
"Sirius and the others still sleeping?"
"Either that or they're trying to stop Fred and George from blowing up the place," Harry grinned. As if to prove his point, Sirius, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all burst into the hall sporting neon blue hair and orange eye brows. Mrs. Weasley took one look at them, bellowed "Fred! George!" and rushed out of the Hall, leaving everyone else on the brink of tears from laughing, except a determined Snape and a very scandalized Dursley family. Once the din had died down, Sirius explained that the twins had bewitched the water in the bathrooms. Mrs. Weasley soon returned, dragging the twins in by their ears and forcing them, through poorly disguised giggles, to apologize. That done, everybody left the Great Hall for a meeting in Dumbledore's office. Everybody, that is, except the for the Dursleys, who were waiting for Dudley to get his fill off the bewitched plates. Something told Harry that they'd be waiting a very long time.