CHAPTER 3: RETURN TO THE BURROW
"I already told you, I don't really know what happened… this man in a dark cloak came through the door, about this tall… and Harry said his scar was hurting. Then the man left and Harry was fine again. He wanted to chase the man though, so we started to leave. And we ran into Hagrid. Then the man in the cloak came back, and Harry just kind of drifted off, fell over, you know?"
Harry opened his eyes. The light was blinding. He closed them again and listened to the voices. He recognized them to be Ron's and Hermione's. Ron was apparently telling Hermione what happened. Harry was just as eager as Hermione to find out what was going on. Hermione started talking to Ron in a hushed voice. Harry was filled with trepidation as she spoke.
"I didn't think that would happen… that wasn't supposed to be him… not You-Know-Who. It was supposed to be a simple clue… I didn't think Harry would actually follow the rose… This is more serious than I thought, it was only meant to be a birthday gift, and now look. He's started the quest and now he's got to finish it before it's too late."
Harry opened his eyes again. "Too late for what?" he croaked, taken aback at how quiet and weak his voice sounded.
"Oh, my gosh! You're awake!" Hermione breathed a sigh of relief and took Harry's hand. "Harry, I am so sorry! It wasn't supposed to happen. It was just supposed to-"
"I know. I heard." Harry didn't mean to sound angry, but he sensed a bit of exasperation in his voice.
"Harry," Ron said, "Who do you think that man was?"
"I think it was Voldemort," Harry whispered, sitting up slowly. "Where am I?"
"My house," Ron exclaimed, "we brought you back here. Aren't you glad?"
"Er… sure I am. I'm so confused, though. I don't know why that happened. I think Voldemort was there, but why did he come back into the Leaky Cauldron after walking out? Did he realize it was me? Did he cast a spell? Why was Hagrid scared of the rose? What does the rose mean? Hermione…" Harry was looking at the ceiling, but he lowered his head to look into Hermione's eyes. "This book isn't what you thought, is it?"
"No…" she whispered, staring at the ground with a look of foreboding in her eyes. "All I know is that you've got to finish the quest. If Voldemort's involved, there could be grave consequences for not solving the puzzles, the riddles. I knew it gave every person a different situation, but they are supposed to be simple things, like finding a missing jigsaw piece or using lateral thinking to solve verbal questions, like different spells and stuff, that's what the man in the store, Flourish and Botts, said. But Harry, nothing is simple for you. If there has to be a problem in your life, Voldemort is always involved."
"I should never have gone after the rose," Harry said. "I-I should have closed the book after I saw the pictures and gone to Diagon Alley in August like I had planned. That's what I should have done."
"Harry," Hermione mumbled, "You have one year."
"What?"
"One year. To finish the quest. Or else… or else… I don't really know what else, and I don't particularly care to find out. I don't know anything else about it. I'm sorry."
"Oh, Hermione, it's not your fault." Harry looked right at Hermione's face. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them out. Harry felt a rush of determination charge through his blood. "I'll finish it, all right. And Voldemort will learn, once again, not to mess with Harry Potter. He is fading now, and this is not his chance to see my demise, it is my chance to personally annihilate him."
Hermione smiled a hint of a smile through her tears. "okay," she finally managed to say, in a voice barely audible.
"That's the spirit, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder.
Just then, Harry heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and heard a delighted squeal. It was Ron's mother.
"Bless you, child, you're awake! You've been sleeping for four days. Poor Ginnie, she was so worried." Harry saw Ron's sister Ginnie, an upcoming fourth-year, go quite pink indeed and scuttle past her mother and into her bedroom. A fourteen-year-old, Ginnie had always liked Harry, but she liked to believe that her feelings were unbeknownst to him. Ron's mother continued to talk to Harry as she entered the room and laid some robes on a chair.
"We bought your supplies for you, your books and all, and your robes, and-and," she looked at Harry as if he were a baby bird. "We're just so glad you're alive…" she sobbed, and said very squeakily "excuse me" and walked out the door. Harry heard her blow her nose out in the hallway and head back down the stairs.
"Ron," Harry said suddenly, "I need to get back home."
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Hedwig. She's been left alone for four days now and the Dursleys wouldn't feed her if they were paid a million pounds to do it. Besides, my cauldron, my trunk, the rest of my stuff…"
"We'll go back by Floo Powder, get your things, and come back here for the rest of the holiday, all right?" Ron started to stand up.
"Okay," Harry responded as he attempted to stand. When he did, he became very dizzy and nearly fell over.
"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed, rushing over to take his arm, "Maybe we shouldn't go," she stated, giving a look to Ron across the room.
"NO!" Harry nearly shouted, "No… I've got to feed her." He quieted down at the shocked look on Hermione's face.
"All right, then," she said snippily, "But I don't think it's a good idea." Even so, she led Harry reluctantly down the stairs and towards the Weasley fireplace. On the mantel above the brick fireplace was a tin of Floo Powder. The boys and Hermione took a pinch each. Hermione conjured flames up in the fireplace.
"Hermione…" Harry warned, "That's the third time this summer…" Technically, Hogwart's students weren't allowed to use magic while they weren't in school, but Hermione was a good enough student (the best student, in fact), that she could get away with bending the rules every now and again.
"This is an emergency." Hermione sounded overly confident, and she rolled her eyes at Ron, who mocked her in a squeaky voice.
She decided to avoid an argument by stepping right into the flames with her Floo Powder, saying, "4 Privet Drive, Surrey." Hermione disappeared, so the boys followed suit.
Harry came out of his fireplace to hear voices screaming.
"YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING FOR ONE DAY! WHY DIDN'T YOU COME BACK?! NOT LIKE WE WERE WORRIED, I'M JUST MAD!" Uncle Vernon's face was a deep plum as he howled at Harry.
Harry decided to yell back. He saw Hermione and Ron quietly heading up the stairs to get Harry's things. As he screamed back at Uncle Vernon, a earsplitting joust of words erupted. Uncle Vernon struck first.
"AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY COMING OUT THROUGH OUR FIREPLACE ANYWAY? THIS IS MY HOUSE, BOY, AND YOU WILL BE BACK WHEN I SAY YOU COME BACK AND IF YOU'RE GONE TOO LONG DON'T BOTHER TO COME BACK AT ALL!"
Harry sought retribution just as loudly.
"THAT DOESN'T EVEN MAKE SENSE! I CAN'T TELL YOU WHY I WASN'T BACK SOONER!"
"WHY NOT?"
"IT'S SOMETHING ONLY WIZARDS AND WITCHES WOULD UNDERSTAND, NOT A MUGGLE LIKE YOU!"
"I CERTAINLY HOPE YOU'VE GOT SOMEWHERE TO STAY FOR THE REST OF THE HOLIDAY!"
"YEAH, THE BURROW! MUCH BETTER THAN HERE, I DARESAY!"
"THE WHAT?"
"THE BURROW! YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THAT, EITHER, YOU-YOU-" Harry was running out of things to say; he hoped Hermione and Ron would hurry up. "YOU MUGGLE!"
"HA! YOU'VE ALREADY CALLED ME THAT, YOU INSUBORDINATE RUFFIAN!"
"YEAH, WELL - YEAH… WELL…" Harry saw Ron and Hermione emerge from his bedroom, carrying all his things down the stairs and coming back into the living room. "WELL I DON'T CARE. SEE YOU NEXT YEAR! I'M NOT COMING BACK TILL THEN!"
"GOOD!"
Harry, Ron, and Hermione each hurried into the fireplace and back to Ron's house. When they had brought all of Harry's things up to Ron's room, they burst out laughing.
"Oh, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, collapsing onto his chair with laughter. "He was so mad! That was hilarious! Good job yelling, by the way…"
"Harry, I think you'd better look at Hedwig…"
"And your aunt just stood there looking at you!"
"She doesn't look very good… Harry?"
"And your cousin! Ha! What an idiot!"
"HARRY!"
Harry snapped back and looked at Hedwig's cage. She looked, more than anything else, exceedingly angry.
"Sorry, Hedwig," Harry said softly, stroking Hedwig's feathers lightly. "It was an emergency… I wasn't even awake! Well, anyway, we'd better give you some food, eh?" He opened the cage and let Hedwig fly out of Ron's open window.
"Come back soon!" Hermione called after her.
"Talk about ruffled feathers!" Ron joked, but finding he was the only one laughing, silenced himself and joined the awkward silence.
"So…" Hermione twiddled her thumbs. Her face lit up. "How about a game of Quidditch, all right?"
This seemed to cheer Harry back up a bit, and, seizing his Firebolt broom, he headed out through the window and said, "See you in the back yard!"
The rest of the summer passed lazily along. Each day, Hermione, Ron, and Harry spent the entire morning sleeping and the entire afternoon playing Quidditch, doing homework, or just sitting around talking.
The day before the students were to return to Hogwart's, Harry, Hermione, and Ron packed up their trunks, and Mrs. Weasley ironed their robes for them. Hermione was in a mad rush to finish reading the entirety of their books for the school year to get "a head start", Ron sulked grumpily about, complaining that he didn't want the summer to end. Harry sat around thinking about the next clue from his book. The night before they left, he decided to open "The Road to Nowhere" once more.
The pictures of the rose occupied the first three pages. Harry saw himself drinking butterbeer with Ron, talking to Colin Creevey, and picking up the rose. On the fourth page, however, the Hogwart's Express appeared. Red and gleaming, it pulled into platform nine and three-quarters at King's Cross Station. Harry saw himself board the train, and find a compartment, where he sat with Hermione and Ron. They talked about superficial subjects for about 10 minutes, when the door of the compartment opened. In the doorway stood a girl Harry had never seen before. The girl had immensely long, dark brown hair and the bluest eyes Harry had ever seen. She was quite short and very skinny, almost too skinny, Harry noted. She said to Harry, in a very thick French accent,
"Excuse me, monsieur, but are you 'Arry Poh-tear?"
"Yes…" Harry heard himself answer, sounding somewhat confused.
"I am new at 'Ogwarts, my family, we moved to London and now I 'ave to transfer schools. I am a feeth-year. I used to go to Beaxbatons. Anyway, My name is Madeline Lecour. I have thees to geev to you." She pulled a small crystal out of her pocket in her robe. "I seenk you will soon undayr-stand, I cannot explain to you right now. May I plees speak to you privately?"
The Harry in the book followed Madeline out into the corridor. Suddenly, the picture stopped moving. Was that Harry's clue? The girl? Or perhaps the crystal? Whichever, Harry sensed that the conversation he would have with the unknown girl would be of some great importance to him. He placed the book gingerly into his cauldron in his trunk, and decided to go to sleep. It would be an early start in the morning. Harry finally drifted off at 2:00 in the morning, thinking about roses and crystals, and about men in dark cloaks. One of the dreams Harry had was one about the girl on the train. In the dream, the girl handed Harry the crystal, which lit up the moment he touched it. The girl said, "Ah ha! You are zee one! He was right!" The words echoed in Harry's mind, bouncing around like a pinball, and when he woke up, all Harry could hear were the words 'you are zee one! He was right!" Finally, however, he was shaken by Hermione.
"Harry! It's time to go!" Hermione looked quite concerned. "You all right?"
"Yeah…" Harry said distantly. "Let's go."
The trip to the train station was made by Muggle car to avoid suspicion. The car had been given to Ron's father by his company, The Department of the Misuse of Muggle Objects, for the use of taking the children to the train station. All the way there, Hermione and Ron chatted, while Harry sat looking out the window. Finally, Hermione sighed and gave Harry a look.
"Tell me." she ordered.
Harry sighed. "Fine… I know what the next clue is."
Hermione's eyes widened. "What is it?" she whispered as Ron leaned in to listen. Harry explained the pictures to them the rest of the way to the station.
"All right," Hermione said, "You talk to her then, and tell us what she said."
Harry nodded. He was afraid to talk to the girl. If the first clue had something to do with Voldemort, who was to say that the second clue didn't? Could Madeline Lecour be involved with the Dark Arts? Harry looked back out the window. It was raining bullets, and as the car pulled into a parking space and everyone began to unload their things, Harry paused and his eyes became huge. His mouth hung open. He had just realized what Sirius needed to keep his eye on at Hogwart's.