Waking up was not as usual. Normally Harry woke with a start and was wide awake at once. This morning it was more like slowly reaching the surface of a very deep lake. He was dreamy and drowsy when he finally opened his eyes. Yehudiah's face was still before his mind's eye, and he thought he could still feel the warm beams of light. The strange language Yehudiah had used was still ringing in his ears, and although Harry could not understand a single word, he suddenly felt a knowledge inside. He was supposed to... what? When he wanted to think about it, he couldn't, but he strongly felt that, if he just got started, the knowledge what to do would be there the moment he needed it.
Very peculiar.
Harry glanced out of his window. It was still dark outside, and suddenly he remembered that he was supposed to throw the remains of the ritual into a river - at dawn. Suddenly wide awake, he jumped out of bed and into his clothes, collected the candles, the lilies and the incense bowl, and sneaked downstairs and out of the house. He looked around and tried to remember where the river flowed. He knew that there was one - but not if it was north or south of the house. He eventually climbed the roof of the stable and looked around, and after a few seconds, he discovered the river behind that little group of trees that could not be called "forest," and if Harry's life depended on it.
Harry climbed down and set off for it. After twenty minutes he had reached the banks and looked down into the current. Then he stretched out his hands and threw everything in. He watched it float away, until it had vanished out of sight. Then he turned around and went back.
The sun still hadn't risen, and Harry entered The Burrow without making a noise, crept up the stairs and into his room and went back to bed.
xxx
A few hours later, he woke up.
Harry got up and yawned. He felt slightly dizzy. A glance at his watch informed him that it was nine a.m., and now Harry noticed that he was hungry. He went downstairs.
The others were already sitting at the table, but no one was eating. When Harry entered the kitchen, everyone looked at him.
"Morning," said Harry and sat down between Ron and Bill.
Nobody reacted, and Harry looked around. Everyone's faces had turned to him, burning with curiosity.
"It might have worked," said Harry.
The tension seemed to explode. Hermione shrieked and nearly knocked over her cup of coffee. Ginny reached out and grabbed it before it could fall down.
"Oh, Harry, that's so WONDERFUL!" said Hermione and, as she could not get to Harry from where she was sitting, flung her arms around Ron's neck and kissed him on both cheeks. Ron's face went scarlet, but Hermione did not notice, for she had already turned around to Remus, who was sitting on her right side, and embraced him as well. Remus was beaming.
"What was it like?" asked he. "Did he appear or have you also dreamed of him?"
"I dreamed," said Harry. He wanted to tell them more, but to his surprise, when he opened his mouth, the words that came out were the following: "I can't tell you anything about it. I've got to leave this morning."
"Leave?" repeated Mrs Weasley.
Harry wanted to tell her that he had no idea why he had just said that. "Don't worry, Mrs Weasley, I'll be fine. It's part of the mission the angel sends me out on."
"Mission?" said Ginny, Bill and Fred together.
"It cannot tell you," said Harry's mouth.
"But..." began George, but Remus interrupted him.
"Don't put pressure on him, George. We don't want to interfere, do we?"
"Certainly not," said Arthur, who had watched the scene silently.
"But Harry, do you have to go alone?" asked Ron. "Can't we come with you?"
Harry did not know the answer, but nevertheless he said: "I'm sorry, you can't come with me this time. I've got to go through this on my own."
xxx
"And you really think you can do this without our help, dear?" asked Mrs Weasley as they were all standing in front of the house to say goodbye.
Harry shrugged. "I wouldn't mind company, but I simply know that I'm not allowed to take anyone with me."
Mrs Weasley nodded. "And you really can't say where you're going?"
Harry shook his head. "I'll know when I get going," said he.
Mrs Weasley gave him a rucksack. "Here's something to eat and drink for you," she said. "I also included a sleeping bag and some muggle money... though I doubt that you're going to a hotel for the night..." She looked rather worried.
"Thank you," said Harry. "And don't worry. I'll be alright."
He hugged the girls, Mrs Weasley, Ron and Remus and shook Bill's, Arthur's, Fred's and George's hands. Then he waved goodbye and left the yard. The others remained where they were until Harry was out of sight.
xxx
Harry walked and walked for hours, came through villages and small towns. When it was about two o'clock, he bought a slice of pizza and a bottle of coke in a bakery, sat down on a bench and ate. Then he continued. His feet started to hurt, but Harry paid no attention to that. The rucksack was heavy on his shoulders, and he was sweating. Yet he kept going. He had the feeling that he was getting on faster than a normal human being actually should, taking into consideration that he could only walk. He had passed Oxford at two-thirty, and although he had never been good at geography, he did know that it was at least fifty miles from Oxford to Birmingham - yet he passed a sign at six o'clock that read, "Birmingham 15 miles." That meant that he was walking at an average speed of 10 miles per hour. Harry could not stop wondering at that. But he supposed that this maybe also was Yehudiah's doing. Maybe he had to get to wherever he was destined to go in less than a week or something.
Harry reached Birmingham at seven-thirty. He found himself a bench in a park, sat down and took off his shoes. His feet were sore and blistered. Now, resting, Harry felt exhaustion overwhelm him like a giant wave. He barely had the strength to reach in his rucksack and take out one of Mrs Weasley's sandwiches. He was not very hungry although he had barely eaten all day. He only ate one half of the sandwich, put the other one back and got out the sleeping bag instead. It was not cold, but yet Harry slipped into it and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible.
He had barely closed his eyes when he was already sleeping.
xxx
"Hey, you, boy!"
Harry mumbled something and opened one eye. The sun had already risen.
Sleepily, Harry sat up straight. His back ached like hell and his fingers were frozen. He squinted into the light and saw a muggle policeman standing beside the bench.
"Morning," said Harry, who just couldn't think of anything else.
"Have you spent the night here?" asked the policeman.
Harry racked his brains for a good answer. The policeman surely thought that he, Harry, was a runaway. He plucked up his courage, took a breath and hoped that he was a more talented actor than he had always thought.
"Night? What's the time?" Harry tried to sound completely desoriented.
"It's seven-thirty in the morning, young man," said the policeman.
Harry jumped excessively. "Oh my God! My mom's gonna be so mad at me!"
He started to his feet, grabbed his rucksack and stuffed the sleeping bag in. The policeman watched him warily.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"I've been hanging out with a few friends," improvised Harry hastily, "and when I wanted to go home yesterday, I missed the underground. So I just sat down for a moment, and well, I must've fallen asleep then. I'm sorry... did I break the law?"
"Not exactly," said the policeman, who seemed a lot friendlier now than before. Maybe he remembered his own youth, when he had done some similar things. He grinned. "Was the party worth this trouble?"
"Sure," said Harry and grinned back. "I'm really sorry... can I go now? My mom'll be horribly worried... I'll land myself in house arrest for the rest of my life..."
"Do you want me to take you home?" asked the policeman. "I could talk to your mom, if you like."
"No!" said Harry hastily. He saw that the policeman got wary again and added hastily, "I mean, no, thank you. You don't know my mom. And if she sees me walking up to the house beside a policeman, she'll flip out completely. No matter if I did anything wrong or not, the shock'll make her even more mad at me."
"I see," said the policeman. "Are you an only child?"
"Yes."
"Then I know what you're talking about." He grinned. "Good luck, boy. Now get going!"
Harry waved goodbye and ran off. Since he did not know if the policeman was watching him, he first ran down the stairs of the underground station. He waited for ten minutes, then went up again and stopped two blocks away to eat something for breakfast. Then he continued.
xxx
The second day of his journey went pretty much like the first. He still seemed to walk faster than everyone else, and in the evening, he reached Liverpool. But this time he did not spend the night in the city itself. He went eastward in the direction of Manchester until he reached the grounds of the University of Salford. There he found himself a place just outside the university's property that was hidden behind a group of trees and bushes. Harry laid down, cuddled in and fell asleep.
When he woke the next morning, his back ached even more than the day before, and his feet hurt so much that Harry doubted that he could take one more step. But then he thought again of Sirius, and the memory of his godfather gave him strength.
"I'm doing all this for you," Harry murmured. "Just hold on, okay?"
He got to his feet. The first steps were sheer torture, but Harry clenched his teeth and went on.
xxx
On the evening of the fifth day, Harry crossed the Scottish border. He started wondering how far he would have to go on. But the knowledge just led him on and on, further into the country.
