CHAPTER 3

Meanwhile, back at Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall climbed the stairs leading to Dumbledores office wearily. Her appearance was as immaculate as ever, her dark hair was pulled back in a severe bun and she was dressed in spotless black robes. On closer inspection however, her face looked different, she definitely had more lines around her eyes and she looked older somehow, as though the last few weeks had aged her by several years. Of course, it had not been an easy few weeks. Reaching the top of the curved staircase (which seemed to take much longer than usual), she rapped softly on the heavy wooden door.

"Albus?" She called. "Would you care to come down and eat with us now? Poppy has made some of your favourite plum cake…. she'll be disappointed if you won't come down for a slice. Albus?"

She frowned slightly at the lack of response and paused briefly before turning the large brass doorknob hesitantly. The door creaked open noisily.

"Albus?"

McGonagall entered the room and glanced around, quickly realising that the Headmaster was no-where to be seen. The only occupant in sight was Fawkes, the magnificent Phoenix who gazed calmly at her as she crossed quickly to Dumbledores ornately carved oak desk. Her fingers were trembling slightly in spite of herself as she picked up the thick sheaf of parchment that Dumbledore had left. Scanning the page quickly with her sharp eyes, her face contorted in anger and two bright pink blotches appeared on her cheekbones. This was known by all of the students as a distinct warning sign, most of them knew better than to cross an angry Professor McGonagall, her reputation as one of the strictest teachers in the school was not entirely undeserved.

"Foolish muggle!" She exclaimed fiercely, closing her eyes briefly as though in utter disbelief at what she was reading. "I would not have believed anyone would be so short-sighted…not even you, Dursley." McGonagall continued to herself, her voice harsh, full of venom.

She shook her head quickly, as if trying to regain a clear mind before turning and heading towards the door.

"Come Fawkes." She said, clucking softly to him.

The Phoenix obediently stretched it's wings and took to the air calmly, following her from the room As she reached the bottom of the curved staircase McGonagall called loudly.

"Poppy? Could you go to the Owlery please and bring one of the fastest owls to my office immediately. We have work to do." She paused briefly before adding wryly. "The cake will have to wait."

*

Back at The Leaky Cauldron, Dumbledore regarded Harry carefully down his crooked nose as he began to speak.

"Harry…you cannot go back to Privet Drive this summer…if ever. Although it would be the safest place for you to be, unfortunately your Uncle cannot be relied upon to ensure that you remain there…the events of this afternoon have made that all too clear. I am sorry this has happened, sorry indeed. I do not think you know Harry, why it is that you are so well protected while you remain in Privet Drive? Perhaps even better protected than when you are at Hogwarts."

Harry shook his head slowly, feeling confused. His mind felt fluffy, dull and useless, as if his brain had been removed and replaced with a great lump of marshmallow.

Dumbledore looked at Harry, apparently concerned for a moment before continuing in his level voice.

"When you first went to stay there, I arranged for one of my most trusted, most learned friends to move in nearby. Together we performed complicated, ancient magical rituals, so complex that I fear I could not explain them to you now, even if I thought it would be helpful. These rituals ensured that in the unfortunate event of Voldemort returning to power he would be unable to touch you there – as long as you remain at Privet Drive you are as well protected against Dark magic as it is possible to be." He paused for what seemed like a very long time before he spoke again. "The name of that trusted colleague is Arabella Figg."

For a second, Harry stared blankly back at Dumbledore, not registering what he had just heard. His head felt heavier than ever and he gawped at the Headmaster stupidly, his mouth open slightly as he tried to think. There was something familiar here, something he had heard before…many, many times. All at once, realisation dawned on him, hitting him smack in the face and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"You can't mean….not….not…Mrs Figg?"

Dumbledore nodded solemnly but there was a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

"But…but." Harry stammered, utterly dumbfounded. "She can't be a witch!"

"I assure you Harry, she is…and one of the finest witches I have ever had the pleasure of knowing." Dumbledore said gently.

"But she smells of cats all the time! She's mad…" Harry stopped abruptly and felt his cheeks redden. He had just accused one of Dumbledores greatest friends of being smelly and mad! Nothing that he said now could salvage the situation. He looked almost fearfully up at the Headmaster, expecting a reprimand but Dumbledore merely chuckled softly.

"I am sure your description would amuse Arabella." He chuckled again on noticing Harry's alarmed expression. "Do not worry Harry…we have both been called far worse in our time!" He tapped his chin with his finger. "She has an affinity with cats you say? Funny that you should notice that…funny indeed." For a moment he appeared to be going to elaborate but he apparently thought better of it and remained quiet for a few minutes.

Harry used the lull in conversation to sit back in his chair, relieved but still disbelieving. Mrs Figg was a witch? But she was the most un-magical seeming person he had ever encountered…apart from the Dursley's of course. It seemed so ridiculous that if anyone other than Dumbledore had told him, he would have laughed in their face.

"Anyway…amusing as it may be to discuss the sanity of my colleagues, we digress." Dumbledore went on. "As I have now explained…you are protected very deeply, so long as you remain at your relatives home, near Arabella. I did not envisage that the journey home from Hogwarts today would pose a problem. Although you are not protected during this journey, I did not believe that Lord Voldemort would have devised a strong enough plan to pose you realistic danger during it. However, after a rather disturbing dream last night, I decided to take the added precaution of penning a letter to your Uncle, outlining the situation and urging him to return home with you immediately. I enlisted the help of Molly Weasley to ensure that he received the letter. I thought perhaps he would not take it too seriously if you were to give it to him."

"He didn't read it anyway." Harry said bitterly.

Dumbledore regarded Harry carefully again.

"I admit, I underestimated Mr Dursley's naivety. I know of course that he does not approve of the wizarding world but still…I did not believe that his narrow-mindedness would cause him to endanger you. I believed that your safety was sufficiently important to him that he would heed my warning. I was evidently wrong."

"He'd be happier if I WAS dead…they all would." Harry said quietly, not looking Dumbledore in the face.

The Headmaster looked steadily at Harry for a moment, an un-readable expression on his face but he did not make any reply to Harry's sorry statement.

"I realise now that although it would be the best option for you to return to your relatives, it is not going to work. Thankfully I had the presence of mind to prepare for this eventuality, much as I hoped I would not need to. As we speak, Professor McGonagall will be finalising the arrangements. Do not worry Harry, everything is in hand."

Harry opened his mouth to speak. There were a million questions buzzing around his brain that he was desperate to ask but he didn't even know where to begin. He was prevented from speaking however, by a knock at the door.

"Errr…. The food is ready now Albus." Came Tom's voice, slightly muffled by the thick wood of the door.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore exclaimed, holding up a hand to show Harry not to say anything. "Come in Tom! We must eat quickly…then we leave for Hogwarts!"

*

Leaning on her desk, Minerva McGonagall rested her head in her hands and massaged her temples slowly with her fingertips, sighing to herself. Poppy Pomfrey glanced up from her seat by the window, concerned.

"Are you alright Minerva?" She enquired softly.

McGonagall raised her head, looking somewhat more ruffled than usual - several hairs had worked there way free from her tight bun - she also looked slightly surprised to hear Poppy's voice, almost as if she had forgotten that she was not the only person in the room.

"Yes, yes…I'm…fine, fine…it's just..well, you know."

Poppy nodded sympathetically.

"Yes..troubled times, troubled times." She smiled wryly. "However, it does not do to dwell on it…our main concern now has to be Harry."

"I know that." McGonagall replied in her clipped Scots voice.

"Have you finished the letters?" Poppy asked, pushing one of her unruly red curls behind her ear impatiently.

"Yes." Minerva sighed, glancing down at the two pieces of parchment on the desk in front of her. "Informing Harry's Aunt and Uncle…that was the difficult part - In the end I decided it best to send an owl to Arabella and ask her to go round and explain to the Dursley's."

Poppy looked stunned.

"Are you sure that is wise Minerva? Can you imagine what they will say when they find out that she is a witch?"

"I know." Minerva closed her eyes briefly. "But at least we know they will get the message this way - if we were to send the owl directly to the Dursley's, it would be all too easy for them just to ignore it."

"You are right of course, as always." Poppy smiled. "But I'll tell you one thing, I don't envy Arabella that job, do you?"

McGonagall allowed herself a small, reluctant smile before her expression turned sombre again.

"The other letter is ready too…I am sorry to have to send it, although I believe he will not be too surprised when it arrives. All the same…it does complicate matters somewhat."

Poppy pursed her lips.

"Are you sure that this is the best place to send Harry? Circumstances being what they are, I mean?"

McGonagall looked troubled and smoothed the sleeve of her emerald-green robes before replying.

"To be honest with you, I am far from convinced. However, Albus feels it is by far the best option and who are we to question Albus? I do believe that he is arranging added protection for Harry as well, so I suppose we must just trust his judgement and hope for the best."

With that, she handed the first letter to a large tawny owl which was sitting on the desk.

"Take this to Arabella Figg immediately please." She instructed. The owl hooted in response and took off out of the window into the balmy early evening.

McGonagall then turned to Fawkes who was perched delicately on a shelf full of books, watching the situation unfold calmly.

"Fawkes." She said quietly, placing the second letter in his beak, somewhat reluctantly. "I need you to take this to Remus Lupin." She sighed. "I hope he is ready to welcome his new house guest."

Fawkes uttered a note of Phoenix song as if in response, which quavered soothingly in the air before disappearing. As the note faded, Fawkes seemed to be doing the same and within the blink of an eye he had vanished completely.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it, if anyone has any questions just leave them in your review and I'll try to answer them! Thank you all for the lovely reviews. More soon.