Chapter Four
A/N: I am sorry for the ever-decreasing size of my chapters, but not to worry, from now onwards they shall be "Bigger Better Bolder". I have been getting some criticism, which I think is beneficial, regarding my sentence structuring and spelling mistakes. I do sincerely apologize for any of my mistakes. The reason of such a high standard of error was because I had only 15-25 minutes to write them, but now with some good organization I have nearly double the amount. Thank You Kim for pointing it out and keep up the good work. And my last problem is that people are reluctant to review my story. Only 1 out of 25 do so. So please Review, Even a word or two but pages after pages are more than welcome.
The man had a mushy moustache and a very round face. He had blue eyes, thick lips and a very curly blonde hair. He stared at him for a second and moved his stare towards his scar on his forehead. He then spoke out.
"Mr. Potter, I don't suppose you know where you are?" he said out in a deep but yet gentle voice.
What did he want? Could he be harm or was he his only hope?
"I… just though I'll come for a walk but when I guess I went too far and got lost" he lied. He had no choice. He couldn't tell a complete stranger, whom could well be a muggle, that he was searching for a magical object and that a dark wizard was hunting him down.
The man surprisingly smiled.
"I Mr. Potter am not a muggle," he said as softly as Harry could think it was possible from a man with such a deep voice. "The names Joseph Bongine" he said and held out a hand.
Harry shook it and replied by saying "Harold Potter, but you obviously know it". He suddenly felt secure with this man, but who was he? Where did he come from? Why?
"Mister Bongine, may I ask why you are here?" he said as politely as possible. He didn't want to upset him.
"Hmm… Unfortunately I can't answer that. But I do have something for you" he said and with that he brought out his other hand which seemed to have been behind him.
There was something in it but it was too dark for him to see what it was. "You owl here dropped it on me. Don't distrust her though, she had her reasons". He said and gave him the package. With that he turned around and started heading towards the dark alley. As he disappeared into the he heard him saying something out loud. "I hope to see you soon and use it and guard it well, Mr. Potter". He opened his mouth to ask where he was going but he suddenly felt a tingling feeling.
The world around him slightly went blur but it all disappeared as soon as it had come. But this time he felt something different. Something different about his surroundings. He looked around and was surprised to see the Dursley's house right behind him. He was standing in the front lawn. But how could he get back here. He had been in a dark alley nearly an hour away. Had the man done what he thought he did? Had he disappeperated him back to the Dursley's front lawn?
He had intended to come back here anyway but still he had both a fear and excited. He had just disappeperated and yet he felt so vulnerable about it. One of Voldemort's supporters could have done the same. But not back to the Dursley's but straight to Voldemort.
He slowly turned around and headed back into the house with the package that Joseph had given him. As he climbed dup the stairs he felt the package wobble around a bit. Was it something alive? He couldn't wait to get into his room to open the package, but suddenly he heard some noises coming from the kitchen. Had a thief got into the house while he was out. He hadn't locked the door. If anything had been stolen aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon would literary kill him. But even worst, the thief still seemed to be in the house.
What could he do if the thief attacked him? But then he remembered that he had his wand. But what would the ministry say. It did say that magic should not be used inappropriately, and self-defence seemed pretty appropriate to him. He tightened his grip on his want and kept the package he had in his arm on top of the stairs.
Then he slowly started to walk down the stairs and towards the kitchen door as quietly as possible. He wanted to surprise the thief to minimize any danger even though he knew that it would be hard for the thief to attack him as long as he had his wand. As he got closer to the kitchen he heard not one but several voices, and they seemed to be in such rage that he couldn't clearly understand them. Did he have a chance against a group of thieves, even though he had his want? They too could have been armed. But then again he thought, he had faced the dark lord himself and had survived more than once, what could a group of thieves be to him. They could hardly be compared.
So he took a deep breath and started towards the kitchen door with his wand pointed straight. As he entered he was spellbound by what he saw. Next to the counter were four familiar faces. Four faces that he would do anything to get away from. The only faces he dread the most after Dark Lord himself. It was Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, Dudley and Aunt Marge. But they were supposed to be on vacation. How did they suddenly get here?
"But… But… You weren't suppose to come for another three weeks" he managed to stammer out. He did want some company but not them. He was next stunned when Aunt Petunia came running towards him with her hand stretched apart. What was she doing? He quickly looked back to see if someone was behind him, but no there wasn't anyone. But soon he found out whom she was coming towards. Him.
She put her bony hands around his neck and placed her face on his shoulder. She started sobbing and managed to say, "Oh Harry, we have been so worried about you" in between sobs. But what was going on? Was it a scandal to get him into trouble? But that wasn't the way the Dursley's worked. They punished him whenever they wanted to. Then what was this? Was it to get him into trouble with the ministry?
But then a large snow owl, Hegwig, came flying into the kitchen through an open window, interrupting Aunt Petunia's sobs. Aunt Petunia was startled after seeing Hegwig but didn't scream or throw something at him like she use to. Harry was seriously thinking that something was wrong. He then remembered about Hegwig. She was on top of the kitchen counter staring at him with her bright amber eyes. He started to walk towards counter giving nervous glances at Uncle Vernon and Aunt Marge. But they too seemed to be involved in the scandal. They were smiling back at him. He slowly went up to Hegwig and checked her leg to see if there was any parchment tied. Sure enough there was. He untied the letter and started to read it in silence. Uncle Vernon and the rest of the Dursley's who normally would have torn the letter into pieces and locked him up in his bedroom seemed to be calm to see the snow owl on top of their precious kitchen counter. He put his attention on the letter's contents
Dear Harry,
We have reason to believe that the dark forces have
tampered with the Dursley's minds. I don't have to say whom we suspect. Please
don't do anything irrational until the Ministry workers arrive, they should be
arriving in no time. And be ready to get out of there with them. If the dark
lord has tampered with the Dursley's mind we have no idea what he must've done.
So I don't believe that the Dursley's house is no longer safe for you. You will
be moved to a much safer place and will not disclose it, in case the owl is
intercepted.
-Professor Dumbledore.
After finishing reading the letter he looked up at the Dursley's who were still smiling at him. No wonder they were so kind to him. The Dursley's would have never done something lick that to him in sound mind.
Then he heard several faint pops coming through the Kitchen window from the backyard. Some voice chattering soon followed them. It must be the ministry workers he thought and headed towards the door, which led to the backyard.
He walked up to it and opened it. There were some people all right but they didn't seemed to be from the ministry. They were wearing black colored cloaks, which covered everything from head to toe, and then they wore bright green colored masks, which seemed to be glowing in the dark. There were around twenty of them and he had seen these people before even though not as much. They were death eaters, Voldemort's hit squad.
Suddenly the death eaters noticing him pulled out there wands from within their cloaks. Harry wasn't any slower, but he doubted whether he would be able to duel with twenty or so powerful wizards who used the dark arts single-handedly.
But suddenly there came several pops from within the kitchen, which was behind him. He took a small glance at it, and saw that the thirty or so people had appeared along with Dumbledore and a few other professors from Hogwarts, which included Snape, McGonagall and Lupin. He hadn't seen Lupin since his third year ended. He was happy that he was there but the scenario could have been better. There he was facing twenty or so death eaters who were obviously sent here to kill him. But he was not alone. Dumbledore, who was obviously one of the most powerful wizards of the time along with the ministry workers and some professors from Hogwarts, had disappeperated behind him. But could they get to him? He would have to defend himself alone, at least for the first round of curses and charms.