Harry looked up… he saw the blur of a lady standing over him.
"Harry dear, get up and I will explain" the strange voice said.
Harry searched in the dark for his glasses and finally found them after searching for 5 minutes. But to his dismay one of the lenses was shattered.
Finally coming to his senses he put them on and looked up to see who his mystery rescuer was. He screamed in amazement when he saw that the lady that had saved him was…MRS. FIGG with wand in hand!!!!
Although he could only see out of one lens while the other gave him unclear pictures of 100's of Arabella Figg's. He accepted her outstretched hand and got up quickly.
"Let me fix those dear." said Mrs. Figg kindly. Harry, still astounded, handed his glasses to Mrs. Figg absentmindedly and she continued to use the Reparo charm.
Seeing the bewilderment in her eyes she said sweetly, "I know you are confused how about you come inside and I will tell you everything."
Harry seeing no other choice decided to go with his strange neighbor. As they neared the house he began to smell the wretched stench of cabbage and (what smelled like) hundreds of cats and began to 2nd guess his decision.
"Maybe I should go home. Yeah know that my aunt and uncle are probably worried sick about me." Harry announced to Mrs. Figg, but secretly thought that his relatives were probably rejoicing with gladness thinking that the huge snake had eaten Harry. This sparked a question in Harry's mind and he decided to ask Mrs. Figg (if that who she really was anyway).
"Mrs. Figg, where did the sna…" Harry started but was interrupted by Arabella.
"I doubt that they will miss you much the way that they mistreat you like that, but just to be safe I stupefied them," said the friendly neighbor. "And in case you were just going to ask me were Voldemort's snake went. I am going to tell you that I thought I saw him disappear after I disabled him to fly."
Harry could hardly believe his ears. Was Mrs. Figg a witch this whole time? Why didn't she tell me? WHAT WAS GOING ON!? At this they entered Mrs. Figg's house and the overwhelming smell of cabbage stew filled his nostrils.
As many times before Harry saw the many cats that Mrs. Figg owned, she went up to each own (which took FOREVER) and cooed there names petting them as she talked. Finally she called Harry over to a wall beside a huge armchair covered in cats. She took out her wand (8/12 inches, unicorn hair, mahogany) and tapped it on one overly large flower on her wall paper that Harry hadn't noticed before 3 times and at the last tap she said "Dissendium" and suddenly a door opened to Harry's greatest amazement. She said "lumos" lighting the path of stairs ahead of her with the new light at the end of her wand. Harry followed only to scream out when he finally reached their destination.
In front of him was a rather large room, with a huge table in the center and many chairs around it. On the wall there were many plaques and pictures of different witches and wizards some Harry knew and some he didn't. In most of the pictures the inhabitants were sound asleep, but a lot of the pictures only had a blank black background. Curious as to who the witch/wizard that was supposed to be in the picture Harry moved closer to look at the gold name-plate at the bottom of each frame. He let out another small scream as the nameplate in front of him said "Sirius Black", the one next to that (also empty), "Severus Snape"! Why were Sirius and Professor Snape pictures in the same room and next to each other?! As he went down the row of names he found "Rubeus Hagrid","Minerva McGonagall" and "Remus Lupin" among other people he didn't know, most still in their pictures.
Finally he came across 2 pictures that me him stop dead in his tracks. "Lily Potter" and "James Potter" the name-plates read, "may they rest in peace and may we honor and cherish them forever. Above the name- plates there were 2 stationary pictures of his parents smiling. So happy, he thought, "WHY?!" he murmured with hate as he again started to shake with anger as he thought about Worm tail, Nagini and VOLDEMORT! Once again the stinging in the corner of his eyes started as he looked at the pictures and the roses that lay across their pictures. He was very happy when Mrs. Figg called him over to talk to him.
"Harry I know that this must be really weird and mind-boggling for you so I am going to explain everything from the beginning, you can ask all of your questions after I am done."
" I am a witch as I am sure that you have noticed by now. I went to school with Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Severus Snape and…your parents. I was always just watching them from afar until our 6th year. We started to talk (all of us) and soon became friends. We stayed friends and kept in touch after we left Hogwarts. Then when Lord Voldemort was at his highest we decided to form an order against Lord Voldemort and we called it "the Order of the Phoenix". We asked many old friends of ours from Hogwarts to join and even asked Albus Dumbledore. I volunteered to be one of 10 to be positioned around the muggle world. That is how I came to live in the muggle world. I learned a lot about it and convinced everyone that I was infact a muggle. I dressed like a muggle, but many thought me to be strange because I kept so many cats. The reason for this was, of course, that I was a witch and had a strong bond with cats. Everyone steered clear of me. Then Lily and James went into hiding. All thought that Sirius was their secret keeper, as you know that story, and when Lord Voldemort killed your parents and tried to kill you we had an emergency meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. We thought and thought of what could be done about you since you would now be famous and could not understand what had happened. We finally thought of your last remaining relatives, the Dursleys…" Mrs. Figg took one long breath and continued.
"Dumbledore (our head advisor) thought it was best that Hagrid go get Harry and bring him to the Dursleys before anything else happened to him. Minerva was not present at these meetings for she was watching the Dursley's all day. Of course after he told her the Order's decision she objected but realized we no choice except to leave with a note and watch you. We wrote a note telling Mr. and Mrs. Dursley to meet us at my house the next day to discuss what they must do. Dumbledore then starting setting up the plan to keep me save. He asked me to moved near to the Dursley's to keep an eye on you and waited for your relatives. We brought them down here and told them about a way we could keep you safe. At this your Uncle was outraged and turned to leave, but Albus told him that if he left and refused to help that he would take their son Dudley away, so of course they had no choice. We told them that they were to be your secret keepers…you do know what a secret keeper is and how it protects the person, do you not?
Harry found himself able to cook up something like an "uhuh", but Mrs. Figg decided to tell him anyway.
"A secret keeper is a person who a person that wants to go into hiding trusts very much that keeps the secret of where the hiding person is. This is good because then if the secret keeper doesn't tell the person they are hiding from where the person is then the evil guy, who in this case is Lord Voldemort, could be standing in front of the hider's nose and not even know it." "Am I making any sense?" asked the kind Mrs. Figg.
Harry again heard him self say yes, but secretly knew that she didn't.
"Anyway, your Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were to be your secret keepers. And after many hours of arguing they finally gave in. This is how Dumbl…" she continued.
"WHAT?! Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are my secret keepers!!?!!! How is that possible? They won't have anything to do with magic. It doesn't make sense! I'M SURPRISED THAT VOLDEMORT HASN'T FOUND ME BEFORE!!!" Harry screamed at the startled Mrs. Figg. Harry didn't want to admit it but he thought that it did. It all made sense. The reason that they always yelled at Harry to NEVER let anyone notice he was a wizard was that they were his secret keeper's and didn't want to lose their son.
……. It all made sense to him except 1 thing. How was Nagini able to get to him and know where he was? She had obviously seen him and Voldemort himself told Harry before he had planned to kill him that he couldn't find him and kill him there. He was about to ask Mrs. Figg, but she had decided to continue.
"I know that it is hard to comprehend, but it is true and you NEED to know. As I was saying… This was how Dumbledore made sure that you were safe while in he muggle world. After that night the Order of the Phoenix stopped having meetings because everyone thought that the dark lord was dead. While you were at home I often liked to change into my cat Anamagi form and…"
"Wait a minute!" Harry yelled. This was too much for him his hated relatives his secret keepers and his neighbor a witch. He didn't want to listen anymore, but something made him and he asked Mrs. Figg to continue.
"Come up to your lawn to look at you. You reminded me so much of your father, doing your homework in the dark and I missed your father…and mother (she added hastily) so very, very much. In fact I was doing just that when I saw your relatives come in and start to yell at you and so I just lay down and covered by eyes and ears and tried to wait until it was over. While I was trying to concentrate on not thinking of you being yelled at I heard a hissing and my curiosity got the better of me ( you know that curiosity killed the cat!), and good thing to, because when I looked I saw you were talking to the huge snake. I quickly changed into my human form and just as you were leaving on the snake's back I used my magic and saved you." Mrs. Figg stopped for a moment and looked at the picture of James Potter and then Harry and then looked away. Harry thought he saw a small tear trickling down the old woman's face.
"Harry dear, get up and I will explain" the strange voice said.
Harry searched in the dark for his glasses and finally found them after searching for 5 minutes. But to his dismay one of the lenses was shattered.
Finally coming to his senses he put them on and looked up to see who his mystery rescuer was. He screamed in amazement when he saw that the lady that had saved him was…MRS. FIGG with wand in hand!!!!
Although he could only see out of one lens while the other gave him unclear pictures of 100's of Arabella Figg's. He accepted her outstretched hand and got up quickly.
"Let me fix those dear." said Mrs. Figg kindly. Harry, still astounded, handed his glasses to Mrs. Figg absentmindedly and she continued to use the Reparo charm.
Seeing the bewilderment in her eyes she said sweetly, "I know you are confused how about you come inside and I will tell you everything."
Harry seeing no other choice decided to go with his strange neighbor. As they neared the house he began to smell the wretched stench of cabbage and (what smelled like) hundreds of cats and began to 2nd guess his decision.
"Maybe I should go home. Yeah know that my aunt and uncle are probably worried sick about me." Harry announced to Mrs. Figg, but secretly thought that his relatives were probably rejoicing with gladness thinking that the huge snake had eaten Harry. This sparked a question in Harry's mind and he decided to ask Mrs. Figg (if that who she really was anyway).
"Mrs. Figg, where did the sna…" Harry started but was interrupted by Arabella.
"I doubt that they will miss you much the way that they mistreat you like that, but just to be safe I stupefied them," said the friendly neighbor. "And in case you were just going to ask me were Voldemort's snake went. I am going to tell you that I thought I saw him disappear after I disabled him to fly."
Harry could hardly believe his ears. Was Mrs. Figg a witch this whole time? Why didn't she tell me? WHAT WAS GOING ON!? At this they entered Mrs. Figg's house and the overwhelming smell of cabbage stew filled his nostrils.
As many times before Harry saw the many cats that Mrs. Figg owned, she went up to each own (which took FOREVER) and cooed there names petting them as she talked. Finally she called Harry over to a wall beside a huge armchair covered in cats. She took out her wand (8/12 inches, unicorn hair, mahogany) and tapped it on one overly large flower on her wall paper that Harry hadn't noticed before 3 times and at the last tap she said "Dissendium" and suddenly a door opened to Harry's greatest amazement. She said "lumos" lighting the path of stairs ahead of her with the new light at the end of her wand. Harry followed only to scream out when he finally reached their destination.
In front of him was a rather large room, with a huge table in the center and many chairs around it. On the wall there were many plaques and pictures of different witches and wizards some Harry knew and some he didn't. In most of the pictures the inhabitants were sound asleep, but a lot of the pictures only had a blank black background. Curious as to who the witch/wizard that was supposed to be in the picture Harry moved closer to look at the gold name-plate at the bottom of each frame. He let out another small scream as the nameplate in front of him said "Sirius Black", the one next to that (also empty), "Severus Snape"! Why were Sirius and Professor Snape pictures in the same room and next to each other?! As he went down the row of names he found "Rubeus Hagrid","Minerva McGonagall" and "Remus Lupin" among other people he didn't know, most still in their pictures.
Finally he came across 2 pictures that me him stop dead in his tracks. "Lily Potter" and "James Potter" the name-plates read, "may they rest in peace and may we honor and cherish them forever. Above the name- plates there were 2 stationary pictures of his parents smiling. So happy, he thought, "WHY?!" he murmured with hate as he again started to shake with anger as he thought about Worm tail, Nagini and VOLDEMORT! Once again the stinging in the corner of his eyes started as he looked at the pictures and the roses that lay across their pictures. He was very happy when Mrs. Figg called him over to talk to him.
"Harry I know that this must be really weird and mind-boggling for you so I am going to explain everything from the beginning, you can ask all of your questions after I am done."
" I am a witch as I am sure that you have noticed by now. I went to school with Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, Severus Snape and…your parents. I was always just watching them from afar until our 6th year. We started to talk (all of us) and soon became friends. We stayed friends and kept in touch after we left Hogwarts. Then when Lord Voldemort was at his highest we decided to form an order against Lord Voldemort and we called it "the Order of the Phoenix". We asked many old friends of ours from Hogwarts to join and even asked Albus Dumbledore. I volunteered to be one of 10 to be positioned around the muggle world. That is how I came to live in the muggle world. I learned a lot about it and convinced everyone that I was infact a muggle. I dressed like a muggle, but many thought me to be strange because I kept so many cats. The reason for this was, of course, that I was a witch and had a strong bond with cats. Everyone steered clear of me. Then Lily and James went into hiding. All thought that Sirius was their secret keeper, as you know that story, and when Lord Voldemort killed your parents and tried to kill you we had an emergency meeting of the Order of the Phoenix. We thought and thought of what could be done about you since you would now be famous and could not understand what had happened. We finally thought of your last remaining relatives, the Dursleys…" Mrs. Figg took one long breath and continued.
"Dumbledore (our head advisor) thought it was best that Hagrid go get Harry and bring him to the Dursleys before anything else happened to him. Minerva was not present at these meetings for she was watching the Dursley's all day. Of course after he told her the Order's decision she objected but realized we no choice except to leave with a note and watch you. We wrote a note telling Mr. and Mrs. Dursley to meet us at my house the next day to discuss what they must do. Dumbledore then starting setting up the plan to keep me save. He asked me to moved near to the Dursley's to keep an eye on you and waited for your relatives. We brought them down here and told them about a way we could keep you safe. At this your Uncle was outraged and turned to leave, but Albus told him that if he left and refused to help that he would take their son Dudley away, so of course they had no choice. We told them that they were to be your secret keepers…you do know what a secret keeper is and how it protects the person, do you not?
Harry found himself able to cook up something like an "uhuh", but Mrs. Figg decided to tell him anyway.
"A secret keeper is a person who a person that wants to go into hiding trusts very much that keeps the secret of where the hiding person is. This is good because then if the secret keeper doesn't tell the person they are hiding from where the person is then the evil guy, who in this case is Lord Voldemort, could be standing in front of the hider's nose and not even know it." "Am I making any sense?" asked the kind Mrs. Figg.
Harry again heard him self say yes, but secretly knew that she didn't.
"Anyway, your Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were to be your secret keepers. And after many hours of arguing they finally gave in. This is how Dumbl…" she continued.
"WHAT?! Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia are my secret keepers!!?!!! How is that possible? They won't have anything to do with magic. It doesn't make sense! I'M SURPRISED THAT VOLDEMORT HASN'T FOUND ME BEFORE!!!" Harry screamed at the startled Mrs. Figg. Harry didn't want to admit it but he thought that it did. It all made sense. The reason that they always yelled at Harry to NEVER let anyone notice he was a wizard was that they were his secret keeper's and didn't want to lose their son.
……. It all made sense to him except 1 thing. How was Nagini able to get to him and know where he was? She had obviously seen him and Voldemort himself told Harry before he had planned to kill him that he couldn't find him and kill him there. He was about to ask Mrs. Figg, but she had decided to continue.
"I know that it is hard to comprehend, but it is true and you NEED to know. As I was saying… This was how Dumbledore made sure that you were safe while in he muggle world. After that night the Order of the Phoenix stopped having meetings because everyone thought that the dark lord was dead. While you were at home I often liked to change into my cat Anamagi form and…"
"Wait a minute!" Harry yelled. This was too much for him his hated relatives his secret keepers and his neighbor a witch. He didn't want to listen anymore, but something made him and he asked Mrs. Figg to continue.
"Come up to your lawn to look at you. You reminded me so much of your father, doing your homework in the dark and I missed your father…and mother (she added hastily) so very, very much. In fact I was doing just that when I saw your relatives come in and start to yell at you and so I just lay down and covered by eyes and ears and tried to wait until it was over. While I was trying to concentrate on not thinking of you being yelled at I heard a hissing and my curiosity got the better of me ( you know that curiosity killed the cat!), and good thing to, because when I looked I saw you were talking to the huge snake. I quickly changed into my human form and just as you were leaving on the snake's back I used my magic and saved you." Mrs. Figg stopped for a moment and looked at the picture of James Potter and then Harry and then looked away. Harry thought he saw a small tear trickling down the old woman's face.