The next morning dawned fair and bright. But unfortunately for Harry
and Ron, they were up before the sun was.
Renata and Hermione had bounded into their room, fully dressed yelling "Wake up!"
"Good morning, boys!"
Harry had sat up groggily and retrieved his glasses. Ron continued to snore on the camping bed set up next to his bed.
"What is it?" asked Harry, extremely vexed at being woken so early.
"This is the last day of vacation and we wanted to make sure we all spend the whole day having fun."
"Sure. Today will be fun. After a few more hours sleep." Harry rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but found it difficult because he could feel Renata and Hermione's eyes boring into his back.
He sat up again. "How did you get in the house Renata?"
"I never left. After the two of you went to bed Hermione and I stayed up talking and it was so late I decided to stay in the guest room with Hermione instead of flying all the way home."
"If you two stayed up later than we did, how are either of you possibly this awake?"
"Easy. I used to get up not long after now to practice Quiditch when I was back in California. We were studying maps and we think we found a really cool place."
"We want to show you."
"Then why don't you two go and let Ron and me get some sleep? I am tired. Actually it looks like Ron is getting sleep. I'm not and I am tired." He rolled over once more. The girls still wouldn't leave. "Why don't you go eat breakfast or something?"
"We already did."
"Renata, it is five thirty in the morning. The two of you have been up here since five, go away."
"Fine we'll go by ourselves." They left the room.
Harry tried to go back to sleep but found he couldn't. If Renata and Hermione got hurt.it would be his fault. He had told them to leave. He had told them to go away. They had listened.
He got up and nudged Ron until he woke up.
"What Harry? It can't possibly be time to wake up. It's early," he yawned.
"Renata and Hermione came in and said we should follow them. I told them to go away and they left. Do you think they're okay?"
"Harry, I'm sure they are fine. They are both smart and they know how to stay out of trouble."
"No they don't."
"They are smart and they know how to get out of trouble then," grumbled Ron.
"But its still summer, they can't use their wands."
"They can in an emergency; it's some sort of special clause in the restriction." He sighed. "You aren't going to be happy unless we get up and look for them are you?"
They got dressed and went down stairs to look for Hermione and Renata. They weren't there. On their way out Harry and Ron grabbed something to eat then set off to look and see if the girls were at the lake.
They reached the lake and the girls weren't there. By midmorning they had visited the Orwells, forgetting Claire was with the Weaslys; the Delanos' house; as well as several other places, the girls were nowhere to be seen.
Harry and Ron were back at the lake once more thinking about where the others might be. Ron sat on a rock with his head in hands and Harry paced, going over everywhere they could be.
Ron threw a small rock into the lake, an angry fish swam to the surface and was probably yelling at them but to the boys it sounded like shrieks.
"That's it! C'mon Ron." Harry dashed off with renewed energy.
Ron followed. "Where are you going?"
"Last week Renata mentioned a haunted house that she thought looked interesting. Well, she said she'd never been there, she didn't know if the place existed but it was rumored to be around here and she wanted to see it. But Claire and I didn't feel like going that day and said we'd go another time but after that Renata never brought it up again." Harry stopped running to catch his breath and Ron caught up to him.
"Do you even know if we're going in the right direction?"
"I think so. Let's keep going." They started off once more. Eventually they reached a stream, and muddy shoe prints. "We're on the right track! It shouldn't be far now."
They kept on at a brisker pace than before. They reached a clearing, and in that clearing there was a house. The door had a large scarlet and gold bird painted on it. A phoenix. Harry and Ron heard voices within. They crept to a window and peered in. There was dusty furniture: a table, some chairs, a desk or two, but no apparent source of the voices. The voices were muffled but it appeared that they were talking about.soccer! Of all things, soccer! Harry got up and tried to force the door open. It refused to budge. Ron helped and still it didn't move. Throwing caution aside he knocked on the door loudly. He heard the scraping of chairs and feet.
The door opened a moment later to reveal the face of a young woman Harry didn't recognize. Dark hair tumbled to her waist, her eyes were a fierce gray, her skin was an olive color, she was tall and thin as well. Before Harry could speak she asked, "Who is it?" She looked quite irked at seeing the visitors.
"I'm Harry Potter and this is Ron Weasly. We were wondering if our friends were in there."
The young woman looked over her shoulder, then turned back to ask, "What's the password?"
"What?"
"The girls here say you know it."
"How can we? We've never been here."
She turned back inside and evidently had a short discussion with those within. "The blonde lady here says that you, the one with the dark hair, would swear on your Firebolt that you know the password."
"Er-can I have a minute to think?"
"Yes," she said, clearly more irritated.
Harry stepped off with Ron. "Renata is giving us a clue by saying I'd swear on my Firebolt. What is she saying?"
"Broom? Fly? Quiditch? Hogwarts?"
"That's it, I bet the password is Quiditch." They turned back to the woman standing in the doorway. "Quiditch."
"Come in quickly, both of you."
They went inside and saw that the room was not dusty or dirty in the least. Quite the contrary, there were nearly half a dozen figures seated around the table enjoying a pitcher of lemonade and some sandwiches along with a bowl of fruit, though clearly they had been working and there were papers and quills spread out among the desks and on the table. The young woman sat down and from the other side of the table Renata grinned.
"We knew you'd find us eventually."
"How are you possibly this happy? We spent all morning worrying and looking for both of you!"
"Really?" Renata asked amused.
"Of course we were looking for you," retorted Ron. "You think we'd just gone back to sleep?"
"No, of course not. I meant the other part of what Harry said. Really?"
Harry's cheeks colored but he managed to answer anyway. "Of course we were worried about you two. You're our friends."
One of the men at the table stood up and shook hands with Harry and Ron. "Welcome. Grab seats, grab sandwiches." He snapped his finger and two more glasses came from the cabinet.
"So what's this all about?" asked Harry when he had sat down.
"This, Harry, is a meeting."
"That's obvious but a meeting of what for what? I saw the Phoenix on the door but I also heard you talking about soccer."
Renata laughed. "Soccer? That was the voice scrambler. But you were on the right track with the phoenix."
One of the women at the table spoke. "Quiet. Otherwise you'll be asked to leave." Renata was silent at once. "Much better. Harry, Ron, this is one of the meetinghouses of the Order of the Phoenix. You've heard of us?"
"I thought that was run through Dumbledore?"
"Albus Dumbledore is the currently head of our Order but the existence of the Order precedes even him."
"So?"
"We are still working on our constant fight against our enemy as well as yours. You know they are one and the same. Until he is gone we shall continue to fight."
"I thought there were only twelve members in the Order at a time. I saw the Order last year and I don't remember anyone here being there," Harry said.
The other woman spoke. "Only twelve members lead the Order. The rest of us follow them in the Order."
"We needed to hold a meeting today because urgent matters have arisen. Peter Pettigrew is missing. And a new Minister of Magic must be chosen. And Lucius Malfoy is in the running for the position."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all spoke at once.
"Wormtail is gone?"
"It's about time for a new Minister!"
"Malfoy's dad!"
"SILENCE!" The girl who had admitted Harry and Ron into the building stood and yelled, louder than they had thought possible, bringing utter silence. "Let him talk," she indicated the man at the table.
The man at the table stood. "Thank you, Anna. Now I understand that there are strong feelings regarding these issues. Let me explain them before you comment. Luscious Malfoy is currently running for Minister and he is unopposed." Harry tried to open his mouth to speak.
Renata picked up an apple and stuck it in Harry's open mouth. "Please continue Mr. Fenimore."
"Thank you. Now, there are reasons that Malfoy is unopposed. I doubt many of the people, if any, want Cornelius Fudge to remain Minister. Those that agreed with his rulings were either unaware of the true situation or perfectly glad Fudge did nothing about the problems. Those that didn't agree do not want him back either. Those that agreed, the ones who knew the truth that is, wanted one of Voldemort's men to become Minister. Those that despise Fudge for the fool he is, want Albus Dumbledore to take over. He won't leave you kids at the school though. If Albus left the school he knows someone else would be put in charge and not necessarily run the school as he expects it should be."
"Of course not!" blurted out Ron. "No one would run the school like Dumbledore. He's crazy but he's the best Headmaster Hogwarts ever had!"
Hermione looked at him, annoyed. "We know that, Ron. Now shut up or I'll stick an apple in your mouth and make you be quiet. Please carry on, Mr. Fenimore."
"Although Albus runs the school uniquely, he runs the establishment with impressive fairness in judgment and great organization. He doesn't trust anyone else to run it in his stead. He has been asked more than once and he will not leave the school to become Minister, therefore we need to find another willing to take on the job as Minister."
"Wouldn't anyone want the job?" asked Hermione.
Ron looked at Hermione, "Now who needs to be threatened?"
Renata spoke sharply to them both. "Both of you pipe-down so Mr. Fenimore can answer the question. Mr. Fenimore, Hermione's right. Why wouldn't anyone want the job? Well paying, prestige, what's bad about it?"
"There's stress, a lot of work, and this time likely assassination. We can't find anyone to take the job. There are a few who said they would but those that would already have to be known enough by the general public, preferably known as a neutral as far as the public is concerned if possible, and would be willing to take the risks."
"This of course makes this so much more worse than we thought about three seconds ago."
"Exactly."
"Who did you have in mind?"
"No one, really. That's the problem. Now, what possessed you kids to come down here today?"
"I heard there was an old abandoned place out here and I wanted to check it before the end of summer and this is the last of the summer holidays," Renata told him.
"Interesting. You had better get going."
"Where?"
"Anywhere but here. We've got no more time to spare talking to the four of you. We've already wasted enough time with you and we'vegot serious work to deal with."
"And you don't want us to help?"
"Not now, we haven't the time to bother with you, but take these." Mr. Fenimore handed big envelopes to Harry and Renata. "Give these to Sirius and Jenny, do not open them."
The students were shooed outside and when the door was closed and they looked in the window all they could see was a seemingly dusty and empty room and some voices talking about soccer (thanks to the voice scrambler). After walking a few yards Renata opened the envelope.
"Renata," Hermione said. "Weren't you told not to open that?"
"Yes, but what ever gave you the idea that I would listen?" She pulled out the contents of the envelope. There was a newspaper and a sheet of paper. "Well, well, look at this; the latest copy of the Chickadee Press. And here is my mom's newest writing assignment for the paper: what to do about the upcoming Minister of Magic problem. Great, she gets the hard one. We'll read the paper in a minute but Harry what's Sirius got to write about?"
Harry opened the envelope and withdrew the piece of paper and the newspaper. "Sirius has to write about where Voldemort's approximate location is and recap on the events of last June or May or whenever it was. Let's read the paper."
They all found a place to sit together and read the paper. This wasn't the normal wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet, this was a special paper run by and for the Order of the Phoenix. The headline said: GONE AGAIN.
Peter Pettigrew also known as Wormtail and long believed dead, was
captured by some Hogwarts students at the end of last year, in
California. They turned him over to Albus Dumbledore who kept watch
over him until he was forced to hand Pettigrew over to Ministry
Officials. Now the unfortunate has happened. Pettigrew is missing. We
are unsure whether Ministry Officials working for the Dark Side
released him or whether it was security flaws that allowed him to
escape. Whatever the case, he must be found. Your assistance would be
most appreciated -Newhope
They skimmed the other articles as well. Renata and Harry stuffed the papers back into the envelopes. "We better drop these off back home and then we can go somewhere," Renata said.
"Yeah. Sirius's place is closest. We'll put all the papers there for now," Harry agreed.
They hiked back to Sirius's house. When they reached there they decided that they would rest a bit and then go back to the lake. Renata flew home to get her swimsuit while the others got something to drink. When Renata got back the others were just finishing up with drinks.
"Here, we left an extra soda out if you want it."
"No thanks, not thirsty."
The four of them went upstairs to change. Hermione and Renata came out of the guest room and then waited for Harry and Ron to come out of Harry's room. They had on swimsuits (or in the case of Harry and Ron, swim trunks) carrying their towels they went downstairs and made their way to the lake. The water was as crystalline as it had been the day Harry had first seen it. Harry stood looking at the water and then he felt something brush passed him and race into the water. He saw Renata dive into the water. The others followed her. They jumped into the water; the water was cold but refreshing. After a couple hours they lay out in the sun to dry off for a few minutes and then continued drying by walking back to the house.
Inside they changed back into regular clothes and had lunch. They sat around talking for a while.
"I can't believe we're going back to Hogwarts already," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Well, we go back tomorrow whether you believe it or not."
"Are you all done with your homework?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah."
"Yep."
"Yes."
"I must admit, I'm surprised," she confessed.
"When have we ever given you reason to doubt that we'd do our work?" asked Ron, with mock innocence.
"We've got have a day left, what should we do?"
"We could go back outside and swim again."
Hermione protested, "No, I'm tired of that. This summer has been hotter than most, you know."
"Well, what else can we do?"
"I got it!" Harry smiled. "Come on." He led them outside and around to the back where Sirius's motorcycle was.
"Awesome!"
"It flies."
"It flies?"
"Yep. It's so.so.I dunno, but watch." Harry put his leg over the bike and started it up like Sirius has shown him to do. Harry flew for a few minutes and then landed.
Hermione didn't like heights much and so didn't want to try the bike but Ron and Renata did.
"Renata, you've already tried before, it's Ron's turn."
Ron got on. He did a few laps around the yard. Eventually the four of them went inside again. Sirius had gotten home while they'd been outside.
"Hello."
"Hey, Sirius."
"Did you kids pack up your things?"
"Not yet."
"Why don't you pack now and then you don't have to worry about it later?"
As they had nothing better to do Hermione and Ron double-checked to make sure they had everything they needed packed. Harry had to pack up most of his things still but he did it as quickly as possible. Renata wasn't packed either but all her things were at her house so she had nothing to pack anyway and she just milled around upstairs with the other three. When they were all done they talked and hung out for a while. After dinner, Renata insisted that she had to get home.
* * * The next morning Sirius woke Harry, Ron, and Hermione bright and early. "Come on, it's time to go, we've got quite a drive ahead of us."
Harry sat up groggily. "What?" he yawned.
Ron sat up, stretching, "What is it?"
Sirius repeated, "We've got a long drive. They'll be here to pick us up in twenty minutes."
"Who will?" asked Harry, getting to his feet at last.
"The Delanos. They offered to drive us to the station. Breakfast is downstairs when you're ready." Harry watched Sirius leave to knock on Hermione's door and wake her.
Harry and Ron got dressed and dragged their trunks downstairs. Hermione was waiting at the counter; her trunk was in the hall. The plates were just washing themselves after a quick breakfast, when the students heard a car horn outside.
"That's our ride." Sirius brought the trunks (magically floating them beside him) to the car. Harry, Ron, and Hermione got in the backseat with Renata. All four of them had owls in cages on their laps and down by Hermione's feet was a cat snoozing gently in a covered basket. Harry noticed that the seat had been magically expanded so they all fit comfortably inside the car. The six of them rode in the car, watching the now familiar scenes of the area. Harry looked wistfully at the lake and hoped he'd be back the next summer.
The ride was long, as Sirius had told him, but it was uneventful. They reached Kings Cross at half passed ten. They got out of the car and got trolleys for their trunks.
"Professor, why don't you have your trunk?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, I'm going to Apperate to Hogsmeade. I have to take the car back home."
"You have to deal with that long drive again?"
"Yes, but it is not that bad."
At quarter to eleven, just before they were about to go through the barrier separating the Muggle part of Kings Cross from Platform 9¾ they saw the Weaslys. Ginny and Claire accompanied Mrs. Weasly. They all greeted each other and then slipped through the barrier in pairs. The Muggles going about their business, boarding trains and meeting passengers had no idea of the existence of Platform 9¾. It wasn't that difficult to get on the platform, if you knew where it was that is. All you had to do was simply walk through the seemingly solid barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Harry and Ron ran through, pushing their trunks. They emerged on the other side and were facing a scarlet steam engine labeled the HOGWARTS EXPRESS.
Harry said goodbye to Sirius who seemed to want to leave right away. Harry asked why.
"My new job starts today, Harry. I've got to be going." Sirius Apperated away on the spot.
Renata's mom left too. She said she had to return the car. After saying a quick goodbye to Mrs. Weasly the kids joined the others on the train. They waved out the window as the train began to roll away, gathering speed as it went. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Renata left to find a compartment to themselves.
They found one and went in. After a while, Neville Longbottom (one of the boys that shared Harry and Ron's dormitory) came into the compartment.
"Hi, Neville."
"How was your summer?"
"Not bad, can I stay a while?"
"Of course." They talked about how their summers had been. Neville was envious, "You got to spend the whole summer together? Lucky. I was with Grams and Uncle Algie."
"I was stuck with the Dursleys for the first half of the summer though," pointed out Harry.
"Still."
The compartment door slid open.
Harry yawned, "What do you want, Malfoy?"
"Yeah, can't you see we're trying to have a decent conversation?" added Ron.
"You're dead meat, Potter," spat Draco Malfoy, the blonde boy who stood in the door, flanked by his heavily built and muscular cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
Ron laughed, "And you're dragon dung, Malfoy."
"Don't laugh at me."
"And how can we not laugh at you, Malfoy?" asked Renata, smirking. "You travel only in a group of three. Honestly, bodyguards? Puh-leeze! And, don't look now but there appears to be some sort of wet rodent on your head. Oh! My mistake, that's what passes as your hair."
"What did you say, girl?" asked Malfoy, his eyes narrowing.
Hermione stood up, "You heard her loud and clear."
"Get out of here, Malfoy," Neville demanded weakly.
"And who's going to make me, Longbottom? You?"
"Yeah. I will." He propelled Malfoy backward and in returned received an uppercut to his jaw from Crabbe. To this, Goyle added a punch to the stomach.
Harry stood up. "You can't do that!" Soon, he Ron, and Neville were fending off Crabbe and Goyle; Malfoy seemed to be standing off to the side a bit, throwing in insults. That's what he was doing until he was turned upside down.
"What's the big idea?" he growled.
Renata was clutching him by the ankle she had picked up and used to toss him head over heels on to the ground.
Hermione got up and helped shove Malfoy into the hallway. At last, Crabbe and Goyle retreated.
Renata smoothed out her slightly ruffled hair; Neville now sat doubled over in his seat (Goyle had delivered a last blow to his gut before departing); Harry's left eye was starting to swell; and Ron's nose was bleeding. Hermione got some tissues out of her purse and directed Ron on how to hold his head up until the bleeding stopped and Renata somehow magically produced some ice to put on Harry's eye. As for Neville, all they could really do was get out some aspirin for him.
The witch with the snack cart who came by later during the train ride noticed their disheveled state. "Would you like anything, dears? I've got some more ice here." She pulled out a little bag of ice, which Harry gratefully accepted before buying an assortment of treats and bringing them back to his friends.
"Neville, good job standing up against Malfoy. We knew you had it in you."
Neville grinned. Neville had always been forgetful, tearful, and he hardly ever stood up for himself.
The compartment door slid open a few minutes later and Harry and Ron sprang to their feet, half expecting it to be Malfoy again. Instead, they were rather surprised.
Renata and Hermione had bounded into their room, fully dressed yelling "Wake up!"
"Good morning, boys!"
Harry had sat up groggily and retrieved his glasses. Ron continued to snore on the camping bed set up next to his bed.
"What is it?" asked Harry, extremely vexed at being woken so early.
"This is the last day of vacation and we wanted to make sure we all spend the whole day having fun."
"Sure. Today will be fun. After a few more hours sleep." Harry rolled over and tried to go back to sleep but found it difficult because he could feel Renata and Hermione's eyes boring into his back.
He sat up again. "How did you get in the house Renata?"
"I never left. After the two of you went to bed Hermione and I stayed up talking and it was so late I decided to stay in the guest room with Hermione instead of flying all the way home."
"If you two stayed up later than we did, how are either of you possibly this awake?"
"Easy. I used to get up not long after now to practice Quiditch when I was back in California. We were studying maps and we think we found a really cool place."
"We want to show you."
"Then why don't you two go and let Ron and me get some sleep? I am tired. Actually it looks like Ron is getting sleep. I'm not and I am tired." He rolled over once more. The girls still wouldn't leave. "Why don't you go eat breakfast or something?"
"We already did."
"Renata, it is five thirty in the morning. The two of you have been up here since five, go away."
"Fine we'll go by ourselves." They left the room.
Harry tried to go back to sleep but found he couldn't. If Renata and Hermione got hurt.it would be his fault. He had told them to leave. He had told them to go away. They had listened.
He got up and nudged Ron until he woke up.
"What Harry? It can't possibly be time to wake up. It's early," he yawned.
"Renata and Hermione came in and said we should follow them. I told them to go away and they left. Do you think they're okay?"
"Harry, I'm sure they are fine. They are both smart and they know how to stay out of trouble."
"No they don't."
"They are smart and they know how to get out of trouble then," grumbled Ron.
"But its still summer, they can't use their wands."
"They can in an emergency; it's some sort of special clause in the restriction." He sighed. "You aren't going to be happy unless we get up and look for them are you?"
They got dressed and went down stairs to look for Hermione and Renata. They weren't there. On their way out Harry and Ron grabbed something to eat then set off to look and see if the girls were at the lake.
They reached the lake and the girls weren't there. By midmorning they had visited the Orwells, forgetting Claire was with the Weaslys; the Delanos' house; as well as several other places, the girls were nowhere to be seen.
Harry and Ron were back at the lake once more thinking about where the others might be. Ron sat on a rock with his head in hands and Harry paced, going over everywhere they could be.
Ron threw a small rock into the lake, an angry fish swam to the surface and was probably yelling at them but to the boys it sounded like shrieks.
"That's it! C'mon Ron." Harry dashed off with renewed energy.
Ron followed. "Where are you going?"
"Last week Renata mentioned a haunted house that she thought looked interesting. Well, she said she'd never been there, she didn't know if the place existed but it was rumored to be around here and she wanted to see it. But Claire and I didn't feel like going that day and said we'd go another time but after that Renata never brought it up again." Harry stopped running to catch his breath and Ron caught up to him.
"Do you even know if we're going in the right direction?"
"I think so. Let's keep going." They started off once more. Eventually they reached a stream, and muddy shoe prints. "We're on the right track! It shouldn't be far now."
They kept on at a brisker pace than before. They reached a clearing, and in that clearing there was a house. The door had a large scarlet and gold bird painted on it. A phoenix. Harry and Ron heard voices within. They crept to a window and peered in. There was dusty furniture: a table, some chairs, a desk or two, but no apparent source of the voices. The voices were muffled but it appeared that they were talking about.soccer! Of all things, soccer! Harry got up and tried to force the door open. It refused to budge. Ron helped and still it didn't move. Throwing caution aside he knocked on the door loudly. He heard the scraping of chairs and feet.
The door opened a moment later to reveal the face of a young woman Harry didn't recognize. Dark hair tumbled to her waist, her eyes were a fierce gray, her skin was an olive color, she was tall and thin as well. Before Harry could speak she asked, "Who is it?" She looked quite irked at seeing the visitors.
"I'm Harry Potter and this is Ron Weasly. We were wondering if our friends were in there."
The young woman looked over her shoulder, then turned back to ask, "What's the password?"
"What?"
"The girls here say you know it."
"How can we? We've never been here."
She turned back inside and evidently had a short discussion with those within. "The blonde lady here says that you, the one with the dark hair, would swear on your Firebolt that you know the password."
"Er-can I have a minute to think?"
"Yes," she said, clearly more irritated.
Harry stepped off with Ron. "Renata is giving us a clue by saying I'd swear on my Firebolt. What is she saying?"
"Broom? Fly? Quiditch? Hogwarts?"
"That's it, I bet the password is Quiditch." They turned back to the woman standing in the doorway. "Quiditch."
"Come in quickly, both of you."
They went inside and saw that the room was not dusty or dirty in the least. Quite the contrary, there were nearly half a dozen figures seated around the table enjoying a pitcher of lemonade and some sandwiches along with a bowl of fruit, though clearly they had been working and there were papers and quills spread out among the desks and on the table. The young woman sat down and from the other side of the table Renata grinned.
"We knew you'd find us eventually."
"How are you possibly this happy? We spent all morning worrying and looking for both of you!"
"Really?" Renata asked amused.
"Of course we were looking for you," retorted Ron. "You think we'd just gone back to sleep?"
"No, of course not. I meant the other part of what Harry said. Really?"
Harry's cheeks colored but he managed to answer anyway. "Of course we were worried about you two. You're our friends."
One of the men at the table stood up and shook hands with Harry and Ron. "Welcome. Grab seats, grab sandwiches." He snapped his finger and two more glasses came from the cabinet.
"So what's this all about?" asked Harry when he had sat down.
"This, Harry, is a meeting."
"That's obvious but a meeting of what for what? I saw the Phoenix on the door but I also heard you talking about soccer."
Renata laughed. "Soccer? That was the voice scrambler. But you were on the right track with the phoenix."
One of the women at the table spoke. "Quiet. Otherwise you'll be asked to leave." Renata was silent at once. "Much better. Harry, Ron, this is one of the meetinghouses of the Order of the Phoenix. You've heard of us?"
"I thought that was run through Dumbledore?"
"Albus Dumbledore is the currently head of our Order but the existence of the Order precedes even him."
"So?"
"We are still working on our constant fight against our enemy as well as yours. You know they are one and the same. Until he is gone we shall continue to fight."
"I thought there were only twelve members in the Order at a time. I saw the Order last year and I don't remember anyone here being there," Harry said.
The other woman spoke. "Only twelve members lead the Order. The rest of us follow them in the Order."
"We needed to hold a meeting today because urgent matters have arisen. Peter Pettigrew is missing. And a new Minister of Magic must be chosen. And Lucius Malfoy is in the running for the position."
Harry, Hermione, and Ron all spoke at once.
"Wormtail is gone?"
"It's about time for a new Minister!"
"Malfoy's dad!"
"SILENCE!" The girl who had admitted Harry and Ron into the building stood and yelled, louder than they had thought possible, bringing utter silence. "Let him talk," she indicated the man at the table.
The man at the table stood. "Thank you, Anna. Now I understand that there are strong feelings regarding these issues. Let me explain them before you comment. Luscious Malfoy is currently running for Minister and he is unopposed." Harry tried to open his mouth to speak.
Renata picked up an apple and stuck it in Harry's open mouth. "Please continue Mr. Fenimore."
"Thank you. Now, there are reasons that Malfoy is unopposed. I doubt many of the people, if any, want Cornelius Fudge to remain Minister. Those that agreed with his rulings were either unaware of the true situation or perfectly glad Fudge did nothing about the problems. Those that didn't agree do not want him back either. Those that agreed, the ones who knew the truth that is, wanted one of Voldemort's men to become Minister. Those that despise Fudge for the fool he is, want Albus Dumbledore to take over. He won't leave you kids at the school though. If Albus left the school he knows someone else would be put in charge and not necessarily run the school as he expects it should be."
"Of course not!" blurted out Ron. "No one would run the school like Dumbledore. He's crazy but he's the best Headmaster Hogwarts ever had!"
Hermione looked at him, annoyed. "We know that, Ron. Now shut up or I'll stick an apple in your mouth and make you be quiet. Please carry on, Mr. Fenimore."
"Although Albus runs the school uniquely, he runs the establishment with impressive fairness in judgment and great organization. He doesn't trust anyone else to run it in his stead. He has been asked more than once and he will not leave the school to become Minister, therefore we need to find another willing to take on the job as Minister."
"Wouldn't anyone want the job?" asked Hermione.
Ron looked at Hermione, "Now who needs to be threatened?"
Renata spoke sharply to them both. "Both of you pipe-down so Mr. Fenimore can answer the question. Mr. Fenimore, Hermione's right. Why wouldn't anyone want the job? Well paying, prestige, what's bad about it?"
"There's stress, a lot of work, and this time likely assassination. We can't find anyone to take the job. There are a few who said they would but those that would already have to be known enough by the general public, preferably known as a neutral as far as the public is concerned if possible, and would be willing to take the risks."
"This of course makes this so much more worse than we thought about three seconds ago."
"Exactly."
"Who did you have in mind?"
"No one, really. That's the problem. Now, what possessed you kids to come down here today?"
"I heard there was an old abandoned place out here and I wanted to check it before the end of summer and this is the last of the summer holidays," Renata told him.
"Interesting. You had better get going."
"Where?"
"Anywhere but here. We've got no more time to spare talking to the four of you. We've already wasted enough time with you and we'vegot serious work to deal with."
"And you don't want us to help?"
"Not now, we haven't the time to bother with you, but take these." Mr. Fenimore handed big envelopes to Harry and Renata. "Give these to Sirius and Jenny, do not open them."
The students were shooed outside and when the door was closed and they looked in the window all they could see was a seemingly dusty and empty room and some voices talking about soccer (thanks to the voice scrambler). After walking a few yards Renata opened the envelope.
"Renata," Hermione said. "Weren't you told not to open that?"
"Yes, but what ever gave you the idea that I would listen?" She pulled out the contents of the envelope. There was a newspaper and a sheet of paper. "Well, well, look at this; the latest copy of the Chickadee Press. And here is my mom's newest writing assignment for the paper: what to do about the upcoming Minister of Magic problem. Great, she gets the hard one. We'll read the paper in a minute but Harry what's Sirius got to write about?"
Harry opened the envelope and withdrew the piece of paper and the newspaper. "Sirius has to write about where Voldemort's approximate location is and recap on the events of last June or May or whenever it was. Let's read the paper."
They all found a place to sit together and read the paper. This wasn't the normal wizarding newspaper, The Daily Prophet, this was a special paper run by and for the Order of the Phoenix. The headline said: GONE AGAIN.
Peter Pettigrew also known as Wormtail and long believed dead, was
captured by some Hogwarts students at the end of last year, in
California. They turned him over to Albus Dumbledore who kept watch
over him until he was forced to hand Pettigrew over to Ministry
Officials. Now the unfortunate has happened. Pettigrew is missing. We
are unsure whether Ministry Officials working for the Dark Side
released him or whether it was security flaws that allowed him to
escape. Whatever the case, he must be found. Your assistance would be
most appreciated -Newhope
They skimmed the other articles as well. Renata and Harry stuffed the papers back into the envelopes. "We better drop these off back home and then we can go somewhere," Renata said.
"Yeah. Sirius's place is closest. We'll put all the papers there for now," Harry agreed.
They hiked back to Sirius's house. When they reached there they decided that they would rest a bit and then go back to the lake. Renata flew home to get her swimsuit while the others got something to drink. When Renata got back the others were just finishing up with drinks.
"Here, we left an extra soda out if you want it."
"No thanks, not thirsty."
The four of them went upstairs to change. Hermione and Renata came out of the guest room and then waited for Harry and Ron to come out of Harry's room. They had on swimsuits (or in the case of Harry and Ron, swim trunks) carrying their towels they went downstairs and made their way to the lake. The water was as crystalline as it had been the day Harry had first seen it. Harry stood looking at the water and then he felt something brush passed him and race into the water. He saw Renata dive into the water. The others followed her. They jumped into the water; the water was cold but refreshing. After a couple hours they lay out in the sun to dry off for a few minutes and then continued drying by walking back to the house.
Inside they changed back into regular clothes and had lunch. They sat around talking for a while.
"I can't believe we're going back to Hogwarts already," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Well, we go back tomorrow whether you believe it or not."
"Are you all done with your homework?" asked Hermione.
"Yeah."
"Yep."
"Yes."
"I must admit, I'm surprised," she confessed.
"When have we ever given you reason to doubt that we'd do our work?" asked Ron, with mock innocence.
"We've got have a day left, what should we do?"
"We could go back outside and swim again."
Hermione protested, "No, I'm tired of that. This summer has been hotter than most, you know."
"Well, what else can we do?"
"I got it!" Harry smiled. "Come on." He led them outside and around to the back where Sirius's motorcycle was.
"Awesome!"
"It flies."
"It flies?"
"Yep. It's so.so.I dunno, but watch." Harry put his leg over the bike and started it up like Sirius has shown him to do. Harry flew for a few minutes and then landed.
Hermione didn't like heights much and so didn't want to try the bike but Ron and Renata did.
"Renata, you've already tried before, it's Ron's turn."
Ron got on. He did a few laps around the yard. Eventually the four of them went inside again. Sirius had gotten home while they'd been outside.
"Hello."
"Hey, Sirius."
"Did you kids pack up your things?"
"Not yet."
"Why don't you pack now and then you don't have to worry about it later?"
As they had nothing better to do Hermione and Ron double-checked to make sure they had everything they needed packed. Harry had to pack up most of his things still but he did it as quickly as possible. Renata wasn't packed either but all her things were at her house so she had nothing to pack anyway and she just milled around upstairs with the other three. When they were all done they talked and hung out for a while. After dinner, Renata insisted that she had to get home.
* * * The next morning Sirius woke Harry, Ron, and Hermione bright and early. "Come on, it's time to go, we've got quite a drive ahead of us."
Harry sat up groggily. "What?" he yawned.
Ron sat up, stretching, "What is it?"
Sirius repeated, "We've got a long drive. They'll be here to pick us up in twenty minutes."
"Who will?" asked Harry, getting to his feet at last.
"The Delanos. They offered to drive us to the station. Breakfast is downstairs when you're ready." Harry watched Sirius leave to knock on Hermione's door and wake her.
Harry and Ron got dressed and dragged their trunks downstairs. Hermione was waiting at the counter; her trunk was in the hall. The plates were just washing themselves after a quick breakfast, when the students heard a car horn outside.
"That's our ride." Sirius brought the trunks (magically floating them beside him) to the car. Harry, Ron, and Hermione got in the backseat with Renata. All four of them had owls in cages on their laps and down by Hermione's feet was a cat snoozing gently in a covered basket. Harry noticed that the seat had been magically expanded so they all fit comfortably inside the car. The six of them rode in the car, watching the now familiar scenes of the area. Harry looked wistfully at the lake and hoped he'd be back the next summer.
The ride was long, as Sirius had told him, but it was uneventful. They reached Kings Cross at half passed ten. They got out of the car and got trolleys for their trunks.
"Professor, why don't you have your trunk?" asked Hermione.
"Oh, I'm going to Apperate to Hogsmeade. I have to take the car back home."
"You have to deal with that long drive again?"
"Yes, but it is not that bad."
At quarter to eleven, just before they were about to go through the barrier separating the Muggle part of Kings Cross from Platform 9¾ they saw the Weaslys. Ginny and Claire accompanied Mrs. Weasly. They all greeted each other and then slipped through the barrier in pairs. The Muggles going about their business, boarding trains and meeting passengers had no idea of the existence of Platform 9¾. It wasn't that difficult to get on the platform, if you knew where it was that is. All you had to do was simply walk through the seemingly solid barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Harry and Ron ran through, pushing their trunks. They emerged on the other side and were facing a scarlet steam engine labeled the HOGWARTS EXPRESS.
Harry said goodbye to Sirius who seemed to want to leave right away. Harry asked why.
"My new job starts today, Harry. I've got to be going." Sirius Apperated away on the spot.
Renata's mom left too. She said she had to return the car. After saying a quick goodbye to Mrs. Weasly the kids joined the others on the train. They waved out the window as the train began to roll away, gathering speed as it went. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Renata left to find a compartment to themselves.
They found one and went in. After a while, Neville Longbottom (one of the boys that shared Harry and Ron's dormitory) came into the compartment.
"Hi, Neville."
"How was your summer?"
"Not bad, can I stay a while?"
"Of course." They talked about how their summers had been. Neville was envious, "You got to spend the whole summer together? Lucky. I was with Grams and Uncle Algie."
"I was stuck with the Dursleys for the first half of the summer though," pointed out Harry.
"Still."
The compartment door slid open.
Harry yawned, "What do you want, Malfoy?"
"Yeah, can't you see we're trying to have a decent conversation?" added Ron.
"You're dead meat, Potter," spat Draco Malfoy, the blonde boy who stood in the door, flanked by his heavily built and muscular cronies, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle.
Ron laughed, "And you're dragon dung, Malfoy."
"Don't laugh at me."
"And how can we not laugh at you, Malfoy?" asked Renata, smirking. "You travel only in a group of three. Honestly, bodyguards? Puh-leeze! And, don't look now but there appears to be some sort of wet rodent on your head. Oh! My mistake, that's what passes as your hair."
"What did you say, girl?" asked Malfoy, his eyes narrowing.
Hermione stood up, "You heard her loud and clear."
"Get out of here, Malfoy," Neville demanded weakly.
"And who's going to make me, Longbottom? You?"
"Yeah. I will." He propelled Malfoy backward and in returned received an uppercut to his jaw from Crabbe. To this, Goyle added a punch to the stomach.
Harry stood up. "You can't do that!" Soon, he Ron, and Neville were fending off Crabbe and Goyle; Malfoy seemed to be standing off to the side a bit, throwing in insults. That's what he was doing until he was turned upside down.
"What's the big idea?" he growled.
Renata was clutching him by the ankle she had picked up and used to toss him head over heels on to the ground.
Hermione got up and helped shove Malfoy into the hallway. At last, Crabbe and Goyle retreated.
Renata smoothed out her slightly ruffled hair; Neville now sat doubled over in his seat (Goyle had delivered a last blow to his gut before departing); Harry's left eye was starting to swell; and Ron's nose was bleeding. Hermione got some tissues out of her purse and directed Ron on how to hold his head up until the bleeding stopped and Renata somehow magically produced some ice to put on Harry's eye. As for Neville, all they could really do was get out some aspirin for him.
The witch with the snack cart who came by later during the train ride noticed their disheveled state. "Would you like anything, dears? I've got some more ice here." She pulled out a little bag of ice, which Harry gratefully accepted before buying an assortment of treats and bringing them back to his friends.
"Neville, good job standing up against Malfoy. We knew you had it in you."
Neville grinned. Neville had always been forgetful, tearful, and he hardly ever stood up for himself.
The compartment door slid open a few minutes later and Harry and Ron sprang to their feet, half expecting it to be Malfoy again. Instead, they were rather surprised.
