Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Chapter 3
Harry looked around the room. It looked just the same as when he left last August. A short, plump woman rushed up and gave Harry a hug. "Welcome back dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "Thanks," Harry answered. Then he broke out into a wide grin. "It's like being home." Everyone laughed. Harry looked to see who was there. Mr. Weasley had arrived just before Harry did. Evidently Apparition is slightly faster than Floo powder. There was Ron, leaning up against the kitchen counter. Ginny, Ron's younger sister, was sitting at the kitchen table blushing furiously. Ginny had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to the Burrow. The twins, Fred and George, had just come back down the stairs from carrying Harry's luggage to Ron's room. All of them had flaming red hair.
"Where's Percy?" Harry asked. Percy was Ron's older brother, and had left Hogwarts two years earlier. Ron rolled his eyes. "He's at work," Mrs. Weasley answered, looking worried. "It's been a tough month at the Ministry," Mr. Weasley added. "Percy's been working quite a bit lately."
"And he's being as impossible as ever," Ron mumbled in Harry's ear. Harry smiled, remembering Percy's cauldron-bottom reports of last year.
"Hey, lemme show you something," Ron said, straightening up.
"Alright," Harry said, and they trotted off up the stairs to Ron's room.
Ron's room was exactly the same as it had been last year. The entire room glowed orange. Every inch of the shabby wallpaper was covered with posters of the same seven witches and wizards - Ron's Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons. Ron reached under the edge of the bed, around a stack of "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle" comic books and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Look at this," he said, giving the paper to Harry.
It looked as though it had been torn out of the Daily Prophet. It was an advertisement for a pawn shop in Diagon Alley. It advertised various things - old cauldrons, broomsticks and Quidditch supplies, books and musical instruments. Harry looked up at Ron, confused. "What's this for?" he asked. Ron straightened up proudly and declared, "I'm going to be getting a broomstick. A good one, not that old thing I have to practice on here. I've been going to work with Dad a lot and running papers back and forth, earning extra pocket money. When we go to Diagon Alley in a few weeks, I'm going to go here and see if I can find a broomstick."
"So you're going to try out for the Gryffindor team?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Ron answered. "I was going to try out last year, except that we didn't have Quidditch last year. And now that both Angelina Johnson and Oliver Wood had gone, I figured that would increase my chances of making the team." Oliver had left Hogwarts two years ago, and Angelina finished her last year in June.
"That'd be awesome!" Harry said. "Do you want to be a Chaser or a Keeper?"
Ron thought for a moment. "I've always liked Chaser, but I think I'd be a better Keeper. Who knows, I may try for both."
They continued to talk Quidditch until Ginny came upstairs to announce that dinner was ready. The three of them trouped downstairs to the kitchen, where the rest of the family was already gathered around the table. They sat down and began to eat to a spirited discussion on this year's World Cup.
"Kazakhstan is much better than Liberia," Fred said thickly through a mouthful of potatoes.
"No way," George shot back. "The only way Kazakhstan got past Egypt was that Polaski got creamed by Abdul."
Harry was hungry for wizarding news, since he got so little of it at the Dursleys, so he listened rather than talked as he ate.
"It doesn't matter which one's better," put in Mr. Weasley. "Whichever one wins has to get past Bulgaria to get to the World Cup anyway." Harry glanced across the table to Ron, who squirmed slightly, but didn't say anything.
"Yeah, Krum's even better than he was last year!" piped Ginny. Ron was definitely squirming now.
"I still think he shouldn't have grabbed the Snitch when he did at last year's World Cup. They might have won," George said. "Ireland was too good. There was no way Bulgaria could have caught up with them." Fred argued. So the argument continued about last year's Cup and who might appear in this year's.
Ron, however, wasn't participating in the discussion. He leaned across the table to Harry and asked, "So, do you think that Hermione was in Bulgaria to see Krum?" Harry couldn't help but notice that Ron's ears were red, the way they always were when he was under pressure, but didn't say anything about it. But what he did say was, "I don't know. She didn't tell me. But she did tell me that she was made prefect." Harry wasn't sure whether or not Ron had heard this yet, but waited anxiously for his reply.
"Yeah, she told me. Do you think things will change any?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "It's hard to say. I don't think she'll act any differently around us, if that's what you mean."
"I don't think we'll be doing much more sneaking around the school," Ron said glumly.
"We still can," Harry said with a grin. "We just can't get caught."
Ron grinned as well. "The invisibility cloak!" he whispered.
"That's right," Harry replied. "But hopefully we won't have much reason to be sneaking around this year," he added halfheartedly. He could tell by the look in Ron's face that he understood what he meant. "No more trouble you mean?" he asked. "Yeah," Harry said.
Just then Percy strolled pompously into the room. "Just got in from work," he declared loudly. "Wow, I'm starving. Mum, what do you have to eat?"
Ron rolled his eyes. Harry knew the feeling. Just then Percy spotted Harry and came over and to Ron's dismay, sat right beside them. "Hello Harry," Percy said in very superior tone of voice. "Splendid it is to see you again." It was all Harry could do to keep from laughing out loud. "So, er - how is work?" Harry asked, trying to be polite. "Awful. Things are such a mess. This whole thing with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named takes a lot of work to be kept out of the papers. It would be a nightmare. All of Britain would be in a panic." Harry looked at Ron, who looked nervously back.
"Now Percy, there's no need for that," Mrs. Weasley scolded as she brought him some more roast beef. "He doesn't need to hear all that in his first day here." Harry flushed. "It's alright Mrs. Weasley. I'd rather know what's going on," he said. It bothered him how everyone thought that he should be protected. "So what has been going on?" he asked.
"There's been nearly a dozen Muggles that are missing, a wizard in Kent dead, and scores of other rumors flying about." Percy said in maddening superiority.
To Harry's surprise, Mr. Weasley laughed. "None of that has been confirmed Perce. There are only three Muggles missing, and the old wizard in Kent simply died of old age," he said. "However, the three missing Muggles isn't a laughing matter," he said seriously.
"Who were they?" Harry asked.
"No one knows exactly. There was one in northern Scotland that apparently just disappeared from his farm on morning. Another didn't appear at work one day, but his wife insists that he left for work that morning. The third appeared to just be a homeless old beggar in London, although we really don't know much about any of them. Of course the Ministry doesn't usually become concerned with Muggles, but Dumbledore insists that we keep up with the Muggle news anyway," he explained.
"It's been keeping us all busy trying to keep meddlers out of the Ministry business ever since Dumbledore told everyone that Voldemort is loose," Percy said. "It was most unwise of him to tell everyone at Hogwarts. We've been trying to quash rumors since June." This spurred another debate at the dinner table.
"It puts us all on alert," Mrs. Weasley said. "Thank heavens that he did tell everyone."
"But some of those students were too young to deal with it!" Percy said heatedly.
"They need to know!" Mr. Weasley said. "Reality is much less harsh if we have been told the truth from the beginning!"
Ron looked at Harry. "Do you want to go upstairs?" He jerked his head down the table. "We can leave this to them. They've been arguing over this all summer."
"Sure," Harry said, and they both rose and went upstairs.
Fred and George had already gone upstairs, and were in their room with the door closed. As they passed the door Harry turned to Ron. "Have Fred and George done anything else with the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes?" he asked.
"No idea," Ron said truthfully. "Mum doesn't like them to keep their things lying around, so I haven't seen if they've done anything. I keep hearing things from their room, but that's not unusual."
They had reached Ron's room when suddenly Ron smacked himself on the forehead. "How could I have been so stupid?" he said, apparently exasperated at himself. He turned to Harry and grinned sheepishly. "Here's your birthday present," he said, unearthing an enormous box from under his bed. "I forgot to give it to you earlier."
Harry opened the box. Inside was an enormous book that must have weighed about eight kilograms. The cover was black and had a picture of a Snitch on it with the words "World Quidditch" across the top. "It's a book of all of the Quidditch clubs in the world," Ron said excitedly. "I found it in the pawn shop I told you about earlier." Harry opened the book and flipped though it quickly. He stopped on a page in the center of the book and watched several wizards in green toss a red ball back and forth. From the caption under the picture, these wizards were from the Japanese club Kenobi. Harry looked up at Ron, who shifted nervously. Harry grinned widely. "I love it," he said. Ron grinned back, and they launched into another discussion about Quidditch.
They spent most of the week playing Quidditch in the clearing behind the house. There was a small paddock surrounded by trees that was hidden from the village below, as long as they didn't fly too high. Harry and Ron took turns practicing moves on the Firebolt. Ron's old Shooting Star was often outstripped by passing butterflies. It was good to work with a "real broom" as Ron called it. Harry tried his hand at Chaser so that Ron could get some practice at Keeper. He managed to block everything that Harry threw at him, but that could have been because Harry wasn't exactly a great Chaser. They had asked Fred and George to join them once, but they had declined, claiming that they had work to do.
Harry and Ron also spent a fair amount of time talking about what might have happened since they left Hogwarts over a month ago.
"Have you heard from Hagrid?" Ron asked.
"I got some things from him for my birthday, but he didn't say anything about what Dumbledore asked him to do," Harry replied.
"I bet that he asked him and Madame Maxine to go to the giants," Ron said thoughtfully. Harry couldn't help but agree with him. Who better to send as envoys to giants than a pair of half-giants?
"And you said that you got a card from Fleur?" Ron asked, reddening slightly. "And Krum?"
"Yeah"
"And what did they say?"
Harry sighed. They'd had this discussion no less than three times since he'd arrived.
"All Krum's said was that we should keep in contact and Happy Birthday. Nothing else. Nothing about Hermione," Harry added quickly, seeing the question in Ron's eyes. Ron's ears turned red.
"Well, what did Fleur say?"
"She said that she's going to be at Hogwarts in the fall. But she didn't say what she'd be doing."
"Do you think she'll be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Ron asked. They hadn't had a Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher that lasted for more than three terms.
"I don't know. Maybe. As long as Snape doesn't get it. I don't think I could take it if he got it."
Ron nodded vigorously. "He's unbearable enough in Potions. Do you remember when he taught once for Lupin?"
Harry did remember. Professor Snape had lots of points from Gryffindor and insulted Professor Lupin as well as every student in the class before the period was over. It seemed too much to hope that Snape wouldn't get the job five years in a row. But that brought another thought to Harry's mind.
"What do you reckon Dumbledore wanted Snape to do?" Harry asked Ron.
Ron looked thoughtful.
"Snape was a Death Eater once."
"Then he turned spy for us," Harry said. "Do you think that he sent Snape back to Voldemort to pretend that he'd never been fully on our side?"
"Maybe he did. But how do we know that he's really on our side?" Ron asked. Harry often wondered the same thing. Professor Snape not only hated Harry, but had hated Harry's father, James, as well as Sirius. 'How could he be on our side when he hates so many of us?' Harry thought. They both sank into a thoughtful silence.
Minutes lapsed, and then there was a tapping on the window. They both looked up. "Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed. Ron rushed over to the window and pulled it open. Hedwig floated down and landed on Harry's knee. Harry took the letter that she was carrying and slit it open. He read it out loud for Ron.
Harry, I'm back at Lupin's now. He insists that you are no longer his student, so you should call him Remus now. I've been visiting some old friends. I know you'll be going to Diagon Alley soon for your books. Don't leave the Weasleys, and don't go off on your own, even at the Weasleys'. You and Ron should stay in sight of the house at all times. Swear to me that you won't leave the Weasleys at any point in time. I've heard strange rumors, and I want you to stay as far away from trouble as possible. Say hello to Ron for me. Sirius
Harry looked up at Ron. Now he was thoroughly irritated. "All of these people telling me to be careful. Do they really think I'm some kind of idiot?"
Ron looked really worried. "Harry, they care about you. If Sirius tells you to do something like that after all he did at Hogwarts, then you really should listen to him."
Harry gave Ron a searching look. "Does that mean that you're going to stay in sight of the house at all time?" he asked pointedly, knowing what the answer would be.
Ron blushed and looked down. "No," he said. "But I think Quidditch is still allowed," he added, glancing up with a devilish look so reminiscent of the twins, Harry was somewhat surprised. But then he smiled. "He wouldn't want us to miss training time, would he? Got a parchment handy?" Ron rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a bit of parchment and a quill. Harry jotted down a quick reply.
Sirius, I promise that I'll stay with the Weasleys. We will be going to Diagon Alley in two weeks. We're supposed to meet Hermione there. When will I get to see you again? Say hello to Remus and Buckbeak for me. Harry
Harry folded up the parchment and took it to Hedwig. "Do you think you can take this back to Sirius?" he asked, stroking her back. She hooted softly and nipped his finger in an affectionate way in reply. He tied the note to her leg and took her back to the window. Then he and Ron watched as she flew out of sight.
Harry looked around the room. It looked just the same as when he left last August. A short, plump woman rushed up and gave Harry a hug. "Welcome back dear," Mrs. Weasley said. "Thanks," Harry answered. Then he broke out into a wide grin. "It's like being home." Everyone laughed. Harry looked to see who was there. Mr. Weasley had arrived just before Harry did. Evidently Apparition is slightly faster than Floo powder. There was Ron, leaning up against the kitchen counter. Ginny, Ron's younger sister, was sitting at the kitchen table blushing furiously. Ginny had been very taken with Harry ever since his first visit to the Burrow. The twins, Fred and George, had just come back down the stairs from carrying Harry's luggage to Ron's room. All of them had flaming red hair.
"Where's Percy?" Harry asked. Percy was Ron's older brother, and had left Hogwarts two years earlier. Ron rolled his eyes. "He's at work," Mrs. Weasley answered, looking worried. "It's been a tough month at the Ministry," Mr. Weasley added. "Percy's been working quite a bit lately."
"And he's being as impossible as ever," Ron mumbled in Harry's ear. Harry smiled, remembering Percy's cauldron-bottom reports of last year.
"Hey, lemme show you something," Ron said, straightening up.
"Alright," Harry said, and they trotted off up the stairs to Ron's room.
Ron's room was exactly the same as it had been last year. The entire room glowed orange. Every inch of the shabby wallpaper was covered with posters of the same seven witches and wizards - Ron's Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons. Ron reached under the edge of the bed, around a stack of "The Adventures of Martin Miggs, the Mad Muggle" comic books and pulled out a small piece of paper. "Look at this," he said, giving the paper to Harry.
It looked as though it had been torn out of the Daily Prophet. It was an advertisement for a pawn shop in Diagon Alley. It advertised various things - old cauldrons, broomsticks and Quidditch supplies, books and musical instruments. Harry looked up at Ron, confused. "What's this for?" he asked. Ron straightened up proudly and declared, "I'm going to be getting a broomstick. A good one, not that old thing I have to practice on here. I've been going to work with Dad a lot and running papers back and forth, earning extra pocket money. When we go to Diagon Alley in a few weeks, I'm going to go here and see if I can find a broomstick."
"So you're going to try out for the Gryffindor team?" Harry asked.
"Yeah," Ron answered. "I was going to try out last year, except that we didn't have Quidditch last year. And now that both Angelina Johnson and Oliver Wood had gone, I figured that would increase my chances of making the team." Oliver had left Hogwarts two years ago, and Angelina finished her last year in June.
"That'd be awesome!" Harry said. "Do you want to be a Chaser or a Keeper?"
Ron thought for a moment. "I've always liked Chaser, but I think I'd be a better Keeper. Who knows, I may try for both."
They continued to talk Quidditch until Ginny came upstairs to announce that dinner was ready. The three of them trouped downstairs to the kitchen, where the rest of the family was already gathered around the table. They sat down and began to eat to a spirited discussion on this year's World Cup.
"Kazakhstan is much better than Liberia," Fred said thickly through a mouthful of potatoes.
"No way," George shot back. "The only way Kazakhstan got past Egypt was that Polaski got creamed by Abdul."
Harry was hungry for wizarding news, since he got so little of it at the Dursleys, so he listened rather than talked as he ate.
"It doesn't matter which one's better," put in Mr. Weasley. "Whichever one wins has to get past Bulgaria to get to the World Cup anyway." Harry glanced across the table to Ron, who squirmed slightly, but didn't say anything.
"Yeah, Krum's even better than he was last year!" piped Ginny. Ron was definitely squirming now.
"I still think he shouldn't have grabbed the Snitch when he did at last year's World Cup. They might have won," George said. "Ireland was too good. There was no way Bulgaria could have caught up with them." Fred argued. So the argument continued about last year's Cup and who might appear in this year's.
Ron, however, wasn't participating in the discussion. He leaned across the table to Harry and asked, "So, do you think that Hermione was in Bulgaria to see Krum?" Harry couldn't help but notice that Ron's ears were red, the way they always were when he was under pressure, but didn't say anything about it. But what he did say was, "I don't know. She didn't tell me. But she did tell me that she was made prefect." Harry wasn't sure whether or not Ron had heard this yet, but waited anxiously for his reply.
"Yeah, she told me. Do you think things will change any?" he asked.
Harry shrugged. "It's hard to say. I don't think she'll act any differently around us, if that's what you mean."
"I don't think we'll be doing much more sneaking around the school," Ron said glumly.
"We still can," Harry said with a grin. "We just can't get caught."
Ron grinned as well. "The invisibility cloak!" he whispered.
"That's right," Harry replied. "But hopefully we won't have much reason to be sneaking around this year," he added halfheartedly. He could tell by the look in Ron's face that he understood what he meant. "No more trouble you mean?" he asked. "Yeah," Harry said.
Just then Percy strolled pompously into the room. "Just got in from work," he declared loudly. "Wow, I'm starving. Mum, what do you have to eat?"
Ron rolled his eyes. Harry knew the feeling. Just then Percy spotted Harry and came over and to Ron's dismay, sat right beside them. "Hello Harry," Percy said in very superior tone of voice. "Splendid it is to see you again." It was all Harry could do to keep from laughing out loud. "So, er - how is work?" Harry asked, trying to be polite. "Awful. Things are such a mess. This whole thing with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named takes a lot of work to be kept out of the papers. It would be a nightmare. All of Britain would be in a panic." Harry looked at Ron, who looked nervously back.
"Now Percy, there's no need for that," Mrs. Weasley scolded as she brought him some more roast beef. "He doesn't need to hear all that in his first day here." Harry flushed. "It's alright Mrs. Weasley. I'd rather know what's going on," he said. It bothered him how everyone thought that he should be protected. "So what has been going on?" he asked.
"There's been nearly a dozen Muggles that are missing, a wizard in Kent dead, and scores of other rumors flying about." Percy said in maddening superiority.
To Harry's surprise, Mr. Weasley laughed. "None of that has been confirmed Perce. There are only three Muggles missing, and the old wizard in Kent simply died of old age," he said. "However, the three missing Muggles isn't a laughing matter," he said seriously.
"Who were they?" Harry asked.
"No one knows exactly. There was one in northern Scotland that apparently just disappeared from his farm on morning. Another didn't appear at work one day, but his wife insists that he left for work that morning. The third appeared to just be a homeless old beggar in London, although we really don't know much about any of them. Of course the Ministry doesn't usually become concerned with Muggles, but Dumbledore insists that we keep up with the Muggle news anyway," he explained.
"It's been keeping us all busy trying to keep meddlers out of the Ministry business ever since Dumbledore told everyone that Voldemort is loose," Percy said. "It was most unwise of him to tell everyone at Hogwarts. We've been trying to quash rumors since June." This spurred another debate at the dinner table.
"It puts us all on alert," Mrs. Weasley said. "Thank heavens that he did tell everyone."
"But some of those students were too young to deal with it!" Percy said heatedly.
"They need to know!" Mr. Weasley said. "Reality is much less harsh if we have been told the truth from the beginning!"
Ron looked at Harry. "Do you want to go upstairs?" He jerked his head down the table. "We can leave this to them. They've been arguing over this all summer."
"Sure," Harry said, and they both rose and went upstairs.
Fred and George had already gone upstairs, and were in their room with the door closed. As they passed the door Harry turned to Ron. "Have Fred and George done anything else with the Weasley Wizarding Wheezes?" he asked.
"No idea," Ron said truthfully. "Mum doesn't like them to keep their things lying around, so I haven't seen if they've done anything. I keep hearing things from their room, but that's not unusual."
They had reached Ron's room when suddenly Ron smacked himself on the forehead. "How could I have been so stupid?" he said, apparently exasperated at himself. He turned to Harry and grinned sheepishly. "Here's your birthday present," he said, unearthing an enormous box from under his bed. "I forgot to give it to you earlier."
Harry opened the box. Inside was an enormous book that must have weighed about eight kilograms. The cover was black and had a picture of a Snitch on it with the words "World Quidditch" across the top. "It's a book of all of the Quidditch clubs in the world," Ron said excitedly. "I found it in the pawn shop I told you about earlier." Harry opened the book and flipped though it quickly. He stopped on a page in the center of the book and watched several wizards in green toss a red ball back and forth. From the caption under the picture, these wizards were from the Japanese club Kenobi. Harry looked up at Ron, who shifted nervously. Harry grinned widely. "I love it," he said. Ron grinned back, and they launched into another discussion about Quidditch.
They spent most of the week playing Quidditch in the clearing behind the house. There was a small paddock surrounded by trees that was hidden from the village below, as long as they didn't fly too high. Harry and Ron took turns practicing moves on the Firebolt. Ron's old Shooting Star was often outstripped by passing butterflies. It was good to work with a "real broom" as Ron called it. Harry tried his hand at Chaser so that Ron could get some practice at Keeper. He managed to block everything that Harry threw at him, but that could have been because Harry wasn't exactly a great Chaser. They had asked Fred and George to join them once, but they had declined, claiming that they had work to do.
Harry and Ron also spent a fair amount of time talking about what might have happened since they left Hogwarts over a month ago.
"Have you heard from Hagrid?" Ron asked.
"I got some things from him for my birthday, but he didn't say anything about what Dumbledore asked him to do," Harry replied.
"I bet that he asked him and Madame Maxine to go to the giants," Ron said thoughtfully. Harry couldn't help but agree with him. Who better to send as envoys to giants than a pair of half-giants?
"And you said that you got a card from Fleur?" Ron asked, reddening slightly. "And Krum?"
"Yeah"
"And what did they say?"
Harry sighed. They'd had this discussion no less than three times since he'd arrived.
"All Krum's said was that we should keep in contact and Happy Birthday. Nothing else. Nothing about Hermione," Harry added quickly, seeing the question in Ron's eyes. Ron's ears turned red.
"Well, what did Fleur say?"
"She said that she's going to be at Hogwarts in the fall. But she didn't say what she'd be doing."
"Do you think she'll be our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Ron asked. They hadn't had a Defense Against the Dark Arts Teacher that lasted for more than three terms.
"I don't know. Maybe. As long as Snape doesn't get it. I don't think I could take it if he got it."
Ron nodded vigorously. "He's unbearable enough in Potions. Do you remember when he taught once for Lupin?"
Harry did remember. Professor Snape had lots of points from Gryffindor and insulted Professor Lupin as well as every student in the class before the period was over. It seemed too much to hope that Snape wouldn't get the job five years in a row. But that brought another thought to Harry's mind.
"What do you reckon Dumbledore wanted Snape to do?" Harry asked Ron.
Ron looked thoughtful.
"Snape was a Death Eater once."
"Then he turned spy for us," Harry said. "Do you think that he sent Snape back to Voldemort to pretend that he'd never been fully on our side?"
"Maybe he did. But how do we know that he's really on our side?" Ron asked. Harry often wondered the same thing. Professor Snape not only hated Harry, but had hated Harry's father, James, as well as Sirius. 'How could he be on our side when he hates so many of us?' Harry thought. They both sank into a thoughtful silence.
Minutes lapsed, and then there was a tapping on the window. They both looked up. "Hedwig!" Harry exclaimed. Ron rushed over to the window and pulled it open. Hedwig floated down and landed on Harry's knee. Harry took the letter that she was carrying and slit it open. He read it out loud for Ron.
Harry, I'm back at Lupin's now. He insists that you are no longer his student, so you should call him Remus now. I've been visiting some old friends. I know you'll be going to Diagon Alley soon for your books. Don't leave the Weasleys, and don't go off on your own, even at the Weasleys'. You and Ron should stay in sight of the house at all times. Swear to me that you won't leave the Weasleys at any point in time. I've heard strange rumors, and I want you to stay as far away from trouble as possible. Say hello to Ron for me. Sirius
Harry looked up at Ron. Now he was thoroughly irritated. "All of these people telling me to be careful. Do they really think I'm some kind of idiot?"
Ron looked really worried. "Harry, they care about you. If Sirius tells you to do something like that after all he did at Hogwarts, then you really should listen to him."
Harry gave Ron a searching look. "Does that mean that you're going to stay in sight of the house at all time?" he asked pointedly, knowing what the answer would be.
Ron blushed and looked down. "No," he said. "But I think Quidditch is still allowed," he added, glancing up with a devilish look so reminiscent of the twins, Harry was somewhat surprised. But then he smiled. "He wouldn't want us to miss training time, would he? Got a parchment handy?" Ron rummaged through a drawer and pulled out a bit of parchment and a quill. Harry jotted down a quick reply.
Sirius, I promise that I'll stay with the Weasleys. We will be going to Diagon Alley in two weeks. We're supposed to meet Hermione there. When will I get to see you again? Say hello to Remus and Buckbeak for me. Harry
Harry folded up the parchment and took it to Hedwig. "Do you think you can take this back to Sirius?" he asked, stroking her back. She hooted softly and nipped his finger in an affectionate way in reply. He tied the note to her leg and took her back to the window. Then he and Ron watched as she flew out of sight.