Disclaimer: Two reasons I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it-1) Would I really be writing fanfiction if I owned the original story? and 2) Since the author and owner of Harry Potter is J.K. Rowling, and seeing that I'm not J.K. Rowling, then I'm not the author and I don't own Harry Potter!
And...I couldn't make a profit off of any of my fanfiction stories, even if I wanted to!




Chapter Eight: Traveling by Floo Powder and Traveling to St. Mungo's





As Harry took the Floo Powder from Ron, he noticed that his heart was thumping in his chest. He was going on his way to seeing Sirius...he was on his way to seeing Sirius...

After thanking and saying goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Granger-who both stood in the living room with an untouched kettle of tea-Harry tossed the Floo Powder into the roaring fire that the Grangers had started up in their fireplace. Stepping into it, he shouted, "The Burrow!", and closed his eyes for the ride.

Harry didn't particulary like traveling by Floo Powder, because the swirling fireplaces that flashed past him during his journey often made him dizzy and naueseous. As Harry spun and spun through what he had begun referring to "Chimney-world", he yearningly wished that there was no law that said wizards under seventeen were not allowed to Apparate.

Just as Harry was beginning to feel that if his ride through Chimney-world didn't end soon he might just throw up his breakfast, he found himself falling rather roughly out of a fireplace and into the Weasley's kitchen.

Harry only had a glimpse of Fred and George Weasley sitting at the kitchen table, and Percy Weasley and his father, Arthur, leaning against the kitchen counter before there was a sort of muffled cry and Harry was soon wrapped in an enormous hug by Mrs. Weasley, in which his line of vision was cut off as his faced was pressed against her robes.

Harry was too surprised to do anything but blink for a moment. There wasn't time for anything else, however, because quite suddenly something hard slammed into Harry's back with a surprised "Oof!" Dazed more by the suddenness of this event than the pain in his back, Harry stumbled out of the way (Mrs. Weasley had let go of him) and more or less fell into a chair at the kitchen table.

What seemed to have just happened was Ron-still covered in soot from the Grangers' hearth--had fallen out of the fireplace and onto the stone hearth. Harry, who had been engulfed in the hug by Mrs. Weasley, had not moved from the hearth, and therefore Ron had slammed into him from behind.

For a moment everyone in the kitchen stared at Ron where he lay on the floor rubbing his head. Then George said, "Aww...did ickle Ronniekins get hurt when he used the big, bad Floo Powder?"

Ron glared at him and began to rise to a more diginified position. However, he had only gotten to his knees when another redhead covered in soot flew out of the fireplace and into Ron, knocking him onto the ground again. Ginny let out a shriek as she stumbled over her brother and crashed onto the floor-or rather, crashed onto Ron, who was lying on the floor once again. Ron let out a muffled "Argh!", hoisted himself out from under his sister and grabbed her wrist, yanking her away from the stone hearth. He was obviously anticipating Hermione's entrance through the fireplace, and he didn't seem to be in the mood to be knocked to the floor again. Ginny, looking very surprised indeed, allowed herself to be pulled away from the fireplace. Harry stared at them.

"You two really aren't having much luck with traveling by Floo Powder today, aren't you?" He asked them wryly. Ron shook his head at Harry, muttering to himself.

"What does he think he's doing, standing in front of the fireplace like that? And those blasted Muggles with their stupid couches and their stupid fireplaces that aren't registered with the Floo Network..."

Ron's rambling was interrupted when Hermione walked, rather gracefully, out of the Weasley's fireplace.

"Hello, everyone!" She said brightly. "So, when are we going to leave?" Then, when she spotted Ron looking very annoyed, she said, "What happened to you?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing," Ron muttered. "Absolutely nothing. Everything's just wonderful, really, it is."

Harry grinned, but then turned anxiously to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, who were both leaning against the kitchen counter. Both were visibly amused by the events by the fireplace, but they listened to Harry when he spoke to them.

"Hermione's right-when are we going to leave?" In the back of his mind, Harry could hear a little voice saying Now, now, please let it be now!

"Why, now, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, looking at Harry sympathetically as he breathed a sigh of relief. "We will leave right now. At this moment." After catching Harry's somewhat skeptical look-he knew how things worked in the Weasley household-she assured him, "No, we are leaving now. Everyone's ready, we just need to go and get into the Ministry cars." There was a pause. "Well, everyone, go out and get into the Ministry car!" She cried, annoyance obvious in her voice. "Go on, go!" There was a moment of confusion as everyone in the room-Mr. Weasley included-hurried to get out of the house on Mrs. Weasley's command. As Harry left the kitchen with everyone else, he could hear Mrs. Weasley behind him, muttering, "I do hope Sirius is alright."



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Harry had never known a car ride to be so long. Even the ride Harry had taken back before his first year when Uncle Vernon had tried vainly to get away from the letters inviting Harry to Hogwarts hadn't seemed as long as this one was.

Although the Ministry car was magically bigger inside than it actually looked, Harry was soon feeling slightly claustrophobic and bored. He tried to engage himself in a conversation that Ron, Fred, and George were having about the Chudley Cannom's chances of getting into the Quidditch playoffs this year, but he found that Quidditch-normally one of his favorite subjects to talk about-was the farthest thing from his mind. For a few minutes he tried to sort out his confused thoughts about Ginny, while watching her talk with Hermione, but he couldn't keep his mind on her. For a minute Harry tried to listen to what Percy and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were talking about, but realized soone enough that he wasn't very interested. Percy had changed departements in the Ministry-after the events last year that took place in the Crouch family-and was now in the Departement of Magical Law Enforcement. He was talking about how some wizard had tried to make a Chinese dragon bring light rain to Liverpool, and had resulted in causing there to be a full out hurricane.

So Harry sat, staring out the window at the passing countryside that was quickly turning urban as they made their way to St. Mungo's hospital in London. The only real movement he made was to lean over and stick his fingers through Hedwig's cage to pet her every once in a while. He didn't say much for most of the car ride, either, but the only people who seemed to notice were Ron, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley. All three of them noticed when Ron tried to bring Harry into his, Fred's, and George's conversation.

"So, Harry, how do you think the Chudley Cannons will do this year? D'you think they have a chance of getting into the playoffs?" Ron had asked him nonchalantly, obviously trying to bring him back to Earth and keep his mind off of what Ron knew his mind must be on: Sirius. Harry had turned to his friend and smiled a little, Hermione looking anxiously on.

"I dunno, Ron, what do you think? They are your favorite team," Harry had responded vaguely, he didn't really feel like talking about Quidditch. That's a first.

"Well, yeah, but--" Ron had begun somewhat uncomfortably, but Hermione had cut him off, nudging him with her elbow sharply into his rib, and shaking her head slightly after nodding in Harry's direction.

"Oh, right," Ron had muttered, looking very uncomfortable now indeed. "Right...um...right."

Harry had looked at Hermione gratefully. Mrs. Weasley, who had momentarily removed herself from her own conversation with Mr. Weasley and Percy, gave Harry a sort of sad, sympathetic smile, and reached over to give his knee a reassuring pat.

That was the only interaction Harry made with anyone in the whole car ride.


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Their trip to London seemed to Harry as if it took forever, and he was very relieved when they finally arrived. Parking the Ministry car down a somewhat non populated street, Harry, Hermione, and the Weasleys all piled out of the small looking car. Two Muggles walking by stared as they all stepped out, whispering and pointing at them and the car. As they walked away, Mr. Weasley sighed.

"Ah, Muggles," he smiled after the pair of them. "Bless their souls."

George let out a snort. Mrs. Weasley glared at him, and he quickly turned back to the car, bowing and offering his hand to help Hermione out of her seat. "Watch yer step, m'lady," he said in a rather good imitation of a Cockney accent.

Hermione grinned at George with her eyebrow raised, accepted his hand, and stepped out onto the sidewalk. "Oh!" She said, her eyes round as she looked around the street. "I know where we are!"

Harry realized with a start that he knew where they were, too. They were near the Leaky Cauldron. Harry looked at Mr. Weasley warily, frowning slightly. Surely St. Mungo's wasn't somewhere in Diagon Alley? No, it couldn't be there-wouldn't he have known if it was? But Harry wasn't so sure, there were still-after nearly four years of living as a wizard-a lot of things Harry did not know about the magical world. He was bound to find out things along the way, however-from Ron, because he grew up in this world, and from Hermione. Although Hermione was Muggle born and had found out about magic and Hogwarts the same time Harry had, it seemed to him that everything Hermione knew about anything she had read about in a book somewhere. Harry was quite sure, in fact, that Hermione's primary source of knowledge was not by learning from firsthand experience, but that she gathered everything she knew from the Hogwart's library.

Harry wasn't really in the mood to be getting lectured by Hermione about not reading enough, so he turned back to Mr. Weasley, and asked him quietly, "Mr. Weasley, exactly where is St. Mungo's?"

Mr. Weasley seemed to know what he was thinking and why he was asking that particular question, because he smiled and said, "Harry, when the International Confederation of Wizards put a Ministry of Magic in every country for that country's magical population, they decided that most wizard places-shopping centers, hospitals, and the Ministry buildings themselves-would be put in the same neighborhood in that country's capital. So the Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, St. Mungo's, and the Minstry of Magic are all in this section of London."

"Oh. That's smart," Harry said. He hadn't known that, but...he glanced over at Hermione, who was talking to Ron. She surely had known. Hmmm, thought Harry. Maybe I ought to start listening to what she says more often, I might learn something.

"Well, if everyone's ready, let's get a move on, then!" Mr. Weasley, clapping his hands. Then he turned and began to walk down the street, with Harry, Hermione, and the rest of the Weasleys following him.

They didn't have to walk very far, they had only gone a few blocks when Percy stopped walking and yelled, very importantly, "Were here! Over here, everyone! Right here, here's St. Mungo's!" Percy waved his hand in the directio, motioning that they should walk around a corner. Leading the way and holding his head high, he walked very quickly around the bend in the sidewalk and smiled triumphantly at what he saw before him. As Harry hurried to keep up with Percy's fast strides, he turned the corner and immediately bumped into Fred and George. Frowning, Harry moved to the side to get a clear view of the hospital, and his mouth dropped.

Only six or so yards away from where they now stood was a building with the size and appearance of any Muggle hospital that one would find in London. However, there was something surrounding the building that someone wouldn't see in a normal hospital. For a moment Harry thought he was seeing the Northern Lights-the Aurora Borealis-reflecting off the building, but then he realized that it was the building itself that was giving off the partially green and partially lavender colored light that engulfed it on all sides. Harry stared for a moment, then looked around and saw that even Hermione looked mildly surprised. The Weasleys however, no doubtly having been here before, had continued to walk to the hospital, unpertubed the colored light. Harry and Hermione glanced at each other before running to catch up with the Weasleys.

"Um," Harry said uncertainly, still staring at the hospital building as they approached it. "Can someone tell me what all that...er...light stuff is?"

"It's healing light, dear," Said Mrs. Weasley, smiling at him.

"Er..." Harry was still at a loss. "Healing light?"

"Yes," Mrs. Weasley answered. "You should be taking Healing Magic this year at Hogwarts, but I guess I can give you a head start...healing light is the light given off when there is a lot of energy put into healing people by many wizards in one specific place. Healing light helps the people who need healing emotionally and mentally, and doesn't hurt-rather, helps-people who don't need any healing at all. It's..." She seemed to be searching for the right words. "Good for the soul."

"Wow," Harry said. He liked the idea of this healing light, surrounding him and helping him...surrounding, helping, and healing Sirius...But then Harry had another question. "Is there any real reason why the color of the light is purple and green?"

"Lavender and green," Hermione briskly corrected him, this time answering his question. "Green is the color for the general healing, and lavender the color for healing other people. I've read about the light surrounding magical hospitals, of course," she added, gazing thoughtfully at the building as they got closer. "But I've never seen it in person."

There was silence as they finally reached St. Mungo's and passed into the aura of green and lavender light. Immediately Harry could feel his headache that had been steadily growing ever since he had woken up after his dream about Southampton slowly beginning to disappear. Suddenly, with a jolt Harry realized. The dream...

He hadn't given his dream a thought since the morning he had it had woken him up. How was it possible that Harry had had a dream with events that really happened? Harry had had dreams before that had been of true events...but all those other dreams had involved Voldemort, and this dream hadn't...at least, he thought it hadn't...what was going on?

Harry didn't have time to think about his dream anymore as they appraoched the door that led to the hospital. Mrs. Weasley gave his hand a reassuring squeeze-much like the way Sirius had done after the third task--and Harry smiled at her gratefully. This was really a wonderful thing for her and Mr. Weasley to do, to take him here with everyone...Harry felt truly grateful to have the Weasleys around, they had done so much for him...

They had arrived at the door. All of the Weasleys and Hermione looked at Harry expectantly, as if telling him, "Go on, that a boy, you can do it, just open the door..." Even Percy wasn't barging through and announcing his presence to the first Ministry member he saw, but was watching Harry like everyone else.

Well...Harry thought. It's now or never...

Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, with Hermione and the Weasleys at his heels.



A/N: Does this chapter seem a bit dragged out? Hmm...it seems like it's moving kind of slow...

Sorry about that problem with chapter 7-there was something wrong when I posted it and it all came out in computer language. I didn't check to see that it was posted correctly when I posted it, and the only reason I knew that something was wrong and was able to fix it was because someone emailed me telling me that something was wrong...thanks, GoldenRose! Well, I fixed it, and it's all normal now.

Keara Jordan: Oh hi! I love it when new people start reviewing...thank you very much! So you think I characterized everyone well? That's good, because I wasn't entirely sure I was doing that very well. My mom thinks that it's incredibly unrealistic that Harry and Ginny will ever end up together because Ginny is so shy and childish, but I really think that she's going to grow up at some point.

Lily Potter: Wow you seem happy! Yeah, just a little Harry/Ginny, but like I said before, I'm not going to get too romantic in this story, at least not until later.

Yuffie-Girl: I know, Harry seems a bit slow when it comes to her... :) I once read this interview with JK Rowling, and she didn't say "Harry" but she was mentioning another boy in the books who is being a utter dolt when it comes to girls. She said something along these lines, I don't remember exactly what she said: "There's nothing between Harry and Hermione, but there is something between Ron and Hermione-except Ron doesn't know it yet. Typical boy." Couldn't have said it better myself!

WeasleyTwinsLover1112: Hehe didn't I say I am the Queen of Procrastination? This isn't really procrastination, but oh well...