A Midnight Flight
It was another week and a half before Harry finally got the owl he'd been waiting for all summer. The now healed pigwidgeon had crashed straight through his closed window and flown straight into Hedwig's open cage, much to her dismay. The Weasleys were coming home at the end of the week and Harry would be able to stay with them for the rest of the summer. He sent his reply with Pig and packed all his remaining things except for 2 days' worth of work clothes. The only thing on Harry's mind at this point was how he was going to get to The Burrow. The note said he was able to come, but it didn't say that they'd be coming to get him.
"Well," he said to himself, "if anything I'll be able to take the Knight Bus."
The night before he was set to depart from the Dursleys' Harry was getting ready to lie down to sleep when a strange sound caught his ear. He had heard it before, but not this harsh sounding, and it was getting louder. Phoenix song!! All of a sudden Fawkes burst through his window much the same way as Pig had just a few days ago. However, instead of flying straight into Hedwig's cage he went straight to Harry and dropped an unsealed letter into his hands. Harry immediately recognized the script of Professor Dumbledore but in this letter the writing appeared to be rushed. He quickly opened the note and read it with a look of surprise and worry on his face.
Harry,
You must move quickly, Voldemort has surprised us all with his latest of moves. The prison of Azkaban is no longer under control of the Dementors and all the prisoners have been freed. With this new development the Ministry has temporarily revoked the restriction on underage magic. You must leave at once for the Weasley home; the only conscious human guard said he heard the Death Eaters saying the next stop was Privet Drive. He of course does not know what that means, but I do. You must move quickly, I understand you have gotten a very useful gift for your birthday and I have instructed Fawkes to show you what you need to do, you must not be seen when you leave. I will be at the Burrow awaiting your arrival.
Albus Dumbldore
Harry looked up at the phoenix with a mixture of anger and determination on his face. He then realized that Fawkes was standing over an open page of the dueling book that Hermione had given him just weeks ago. He was pointing with his beak at a particular passage on the left page. It read:
THE SHROUDING CHARM
The shrouding charm is a particularly difficult spell that can only be cast by the most powerful of witches and wizards. When the incantation shroudus is said, the object, or person that the spell is directed towards becomes temporarily invisible from human vision for a span of time depending on the power put behind the spell. This charm can be used on any object or person of relatively small size.
The description went into more detail but Harry knew what Dumbledore wanted him to do, he had to disguise himself and his things so he couldn't be detected. The only problem he faced now was how to get to the Burrow; surely if Voldemort was coming here he'd attempt to block any way of transportation, which meant that the Knight Bus was definitely not a possibility. Then it hit him, hard. The Firebolt!! He quickly went through his things, got his broomstick out, and repacked all of his belongings and at the same time let Hedwig out and told her to meet him at the Weasley house.
He cast the charm on her cage first; he found it slightly difficult to do. 3 tries and he managed to make the cage fully disappear and he then understood what was meant by the necessity of power for the spell. Within a span of 10 minutes from receiving the letter, Harry was ready to go, all that remained was making himself invisible but he was exhausted from charming his things and enchanting them to follow him. He pulled the invisibility cloak over himself, hopped on his now invisible Firebolt and shot out of the window following Fawkes the phoenix closely without a single glance back at the house he'd just left.
It appeared that the phoenix knew where it was going and Harry had a tough time keeping up with the bird despite the fact that he was riding the fastest racing broom ever made. The trip went by quickly for Harry but he knew it was quite some time before the town of Ottery St. Catchpole came into view. Memories of last summer flooded back to him as he flew over the hill that had held the portkey that took him to the Quidditch World Cup. With a lurch of his stomach he also remembered that the Diggory's had shared that portkey and he turned away to look forward before his emotions could get the better of him. 5 minutes later Harry was cheered with the sight of the crooked home known as The Burrow.
Harry and his belongings crashed into the front yard a few feet shy of the front door from a mixture of fatigue and relief. He had made the trip safely and he would be able to see what he considered his real family for 2 wonderful weeks. Despite the severity of the situation that he knew the wizarding world was in right then, he smiled to himself at the thought of spending time with Ginny and getting to know her better.
At that moment the front door crashed open and the worried faces of the entire Weasley family streamed out followed closely by a tall man with half moon spectacles and a long flowing white beard. Mrs. Weasley was the first to get to him and proceeded to suffocate him with the fiercest hug he'd ever received.
"Oh Harry dear, thank goodness you're okay, we were so worried when we learned what was going to happen." Tears were streaming down her face as she held him close for several minutes before letting him go.
The rest of the Weasley clan doled out their congratulations and Dumbledore stood with his bright blue eyes twinkling in the moonlight as he nodded his approval of Harry's escape.
"Harry, it's great to see you mate, too bad you didn't have time to grab your stuff, I wonder if you'll be forced to get all new things now, there's no way you'll ever be going back to the Dursleys after tonight." Ron said as he came forward to help Harry into the house.
"Oh I almost forgot! Finite Incantatum!" With a wave of his wand, Harry revealed all his possessions much to the surprise of everybody save Dumbledore.
"Cor, that was bloody brilliant of you man. Where did you learn a spell like that?" Ron said, amazement stamped clearly all over his face.
Harry rummaged through his trunk and pulled out the book that Hermione had given him and handed it to Ron, "In here, Hermione gave it to me for my birthday and Dumbledore had Fawkes show me the charm. It's really hard to do; I was so tired after doing my stuff I had to rely on the cloak to keep me covered."
Ron walked back into the house with Harry looking at the book as the twins carried Harry's trunk and Mr. Weasley holding Hedwig's empty cage. As they walked through the doorway, Harry glanced back and saw the figure of Ginny standing on the porch looking up at him. He felt the strange flutter in his stomach again but managed a smile and a wave.
Ginny smiled back but quickly turned away so he wouldn't see her blush. "He must think I'm still a silly little girl." She thought to herself as she quickly walked away around the side of the house. She headed off to the garden so she could be alone with her thoughts.
Harry was a bit surprised by her reaction but was unable to do anything about it as he was dragged into the kitchen so Dumbledore could explain everything in detail. He listened vaguely as Dumbledore discussed the disappearance of the Dementors and the release of Voldemort's entire platoon of old supporters. He also understood that Dumbledore was as dumbfounded as every other wizard as to how Voldemort had broken through the charms that were protecting him. The final thing he remembered was the discussion of how the Burrow was being made Unplottable so as not to be found by anybody other than a select few individuals. Throughout the entire discussion Harry's mind was wandering towards a certain redhead that was currently sitting by herself outside in the dark without anyone to talk to.
After another few minutes, Dumbledore stood up and said his goodbyes. He turned to Harry and said; "I'm glad you made it here safely, but you as well as the rest of the Weasley family cannot go out beyond the property line of The Burrow. You will stay here until September the 1st and I will personally escort you to the train. Your things for this school year will be picked up for you by Remus and Sirius. I expect you will seeing a bit more of them this year than you have in the past. Alas, for now I must leave, I will see you in two weeks, and good luck Harry." With that, he disapparated with an audible pop, and left Harry in the kitchen with Ron.
Harry looked up at Ron with a smile on his face; he couldn't help but being happy now that he was where he belonged, with friends that actually cared about him. To his surprise Ron came up quickly and hugged him tightly, "I'm glad you're here man, I really am. It's great to see you." He was really surprised at this display but he knew what Ron really meant. "I'm glad I'm here. It's great to see you too." He returned the embrace and they walked up the flights of stairs to Ron's room where Harry would be sleeping.
As he was pulling on his pajamas he couldn't help but wonder what Dumbledore had meant about Sirius and Lupin. His thoughts wandered back to Privet Drive. Did the Death Eaters actually go there? If they did, what happened to the Dursleys? As much as he disliked them, Harry did not ever really want to see any harm fall on them because of him. His mind wandered away from those thoughts as the sound of Ron's steady breathing caught his ears. He lay down on his cot to go to sleep and once again found himself thinking about Ginny Weasley. He knew he would have to talk to her, he vowed to himself to make an effort of it as soon as possible, he couldn't spend the next 2 weeks feeling utterly awkward around her without knowing her true feelings, and for that matter his own. He drifted off to sleep still thinking of recent events and pondering on what was to come.