Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that I'm up to – oops sorry, wrong line, I solemnly swear that I don't own Harry Potter. At least I own the plot….
A\N: My dear reviewers: THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! There are a couple of personal reviews after the chapter.
Chapter 4: The new Headquarters
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Harry was spinning in the flames, his eyes and mouth closed tightly, elbows tucked in, the familiar cold sensation around his face. Just as he was about to fall, he felt someone catching him. He opened his eyes. Tonks was holding him, standing near the fireplace in a large hall of a large house. The walls around him reminded him of Hogwarts, with its ancient staircases, torches, portraits and statues. He'd never been here before, and yet he felt like he was familiar with the place, like – like it was his home once in the past. 'What is this place?" he asked, while brushing the soot off his clothes.
"Not now, help me catch your relatives," answered Tonks.
First came uncle Vernon, nearly falling. Harry caught him before he even realized what happened to him. He was covered in soot from head to feet, and looked absolutely terrified. He wanted to say something, but the words just didn't come out, and instead, he choked, soot flying from his moustache.
Next came Dudley, who did fall, but as he was very (very) fat, he just looked like a giant ball rolling from the fireplace. He was horribly pale, and his blond hair was all sweaty. He got up, swayed, and vomited. "Urgh," said Tonks, "'Scourgify'." It cleaned up most of the mess, but the polished floor still looked dirty. She moved back to the fireplace, where Aunt Petunia appeared. She, however, didn't fall at all, almost as though she was used to traveling by Floo Powder. She, too, looked very pale, and a bit frightened. Next moment, Remus and Hestia Jones, who was carrying the box with the Torch, appeared out of thin air, both looking relieved.
"Everything OK?" asked Remus. Harry nodded, but Uncle Vernon's expression was of a person who could hardly say anything was OK. "Let's go to the kitchen then, everybody is dying to see you," continued Remus, and led the way to an oak door that led from the hall. Harry followed, but the Dursleys didn't move. Dudley was still shaking. "Come on, you too," said Hestia Jones, and everybody entered the next room. It was a big kitchen, with a long table standing in the middle. Four of the Weasleys were sitting there, drinking Butterbeer, and Molly Weasley was cutting something by the sink. As the door opened, she swooped down on Harry, and hugged him.
"Oh, Harry, dear, it's so wonderful to see you! How are you? Do you want to eat something? Arthur, bring more Butterbeer, quick," she said, without stopping for breathe.
"Mom, leave him alone, he'll be fine, if you won't strangle him," said Ron, getting on his feet.
"Thanks," grinned Harry, "really, I'm fine, Mrs. Weasley, I'm not hungry. Hello, Mr. Weasley," he said to Arthur Weasley, who was handing him a bottle of Butterbeer, "Thank you. Hi Fred, hi George."
"Hi Harry", said both of the twins together. "Want some Canary Creams, maybe, to feel a little… lighter?" added Fred with a grin. Harry, who knew what was the effect of those creams, laughed, "No, I don't feel like becoming a bird right now, but thanks for the concern."
"Oh, why can't you all just leave him alone? Come on," said Ron, "sit here," and he pointed to the chair next to him. Harry sat down, still grinning, and looked around. Remus was already drinking his own Butterbeer, Hestia Jones went out of the kitchen, and the Dursleys were still standing at the entrance, looking amazed. They seemed surprised at the warm welcome that the Weasleys, especially Molly, gave Harry. Mr. Weasley approached them, smiling. "Go on," he said, "come sit with us." Very reluctantly, the Dursleys sat down at the far end of the table. Just then, the door opened, and Ginny, the youngest Weasley sister, entered.
"Oh, hi Harry! What's up?" she said, and kissed him on the cheek. Harry was taken aback at first, but quickly recovered and smiled. "Everything's fine, now that I'm here." Dudley was gaping at them, stunned, and so was Uncle Vernon. Harry turned to Remus. "So, what's this all about? And why did you need the Polyjuice Potion?" he asked.
"Well, you already know who wrote you this letter, so you understand that Voldemort is sending his Death Eaters to take you. Mad-Eye is going to drink the Potion, so at first, when they come to your house, they'll think that you believed the letter. But Dumbledore and Kingsley are there too, so, hopefully, they'll be caught. Dumbledore has already spoken with the Ministry, so they won't try to track you, but we're still going to keep you in secret. That answers your question?" answered Remus.
"Yeah, thanks. What is this place?" Harry asked the next question that was bothering him.
"It's our new Headquarters, obviously. Oh, that reminds me – you all need to read this," and Remus gave Harry a small note. It said:
The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located in the Lewis Mansion in Oxford.
Harry read it, and gave it to Aunt Petunia. "But… how can it be? I saw the place even before I read it…"
"That's because you arrived here with the Torch of the Green Flame. The torch is… attached to this place, let's put it that way. Besides, before you read it you couldn't see most of the Mansion. You didn't have enough time to notice it, but it's true," answered Remus.
"You probably want to see your rooms," said Mrs. Weasley, both to Harry and the Dursleys (who looked as though they didn't want to see anyone or anything), "let's go, I'll show you where you're staying. Harry, dear, you're sleeping in the same room with Ron, as usual." When she said 'dear', Aunt Petunia twitched, but nevertheless, stood up. Dudley and Uncle Vernon followed. Mrs. Weasley led the way, and Harry, Ron, Remus, and the Dursleys went after her out to the hall, then up the staircase to the second landing. "Now, your room," she said to the Dursleys, "is right here," and she pointed to the door on her right, "and there's a bathroom linked to it." They went inside and locked the door behind them. Harry noticed that from the moment of their arrival to the Mansion, not one of them said a single word. He didn't care much, though, and went to the door in front of him, which was the door to his and Ron's room. Remus also entered, and enlarged Harry's trunk back to normal. "I'll leave you two here, I guess you have a lot to talk about," he said, and went out.
The room was big, with two beds, again very similar to those of Hogwarts. There was also a cupboard, a desk, and a few chairs. Ron's bed was covered in the 'Chudley Cannons' bedspread, and Pigwidgeon's cage was standing on the desk. Harry stretched himself over his own bed, and yawned.
"I'm glad to see your arm isn't broken," he grinned.
"Yeah, lucky me. Listen, what exactly did this letter say? Mom and Dad didn't tell us much," said Ron.
Just as Harry was about to answer, there was a 'crack', and the twins apparated into the room. "Hey, we want to hear it too," said George.
"How did you know what we were talking about??" asked Ron indignantly. "Oh, sure, the Extendable Ears…" he answered to himself, annoyed.
"An owl came to me this morning and woke me up," Harry started his story, "and it gave me a letter and flew away. The letter said that it was you, and that you're coming in the evening, with your Dad, to pick me up. It also said that because you've broken your arm playing Quidditch, you couldn't write, so Bill was writing it for you. Anyway, I thought that it doesn't make too much sense, 'cause I talked to Remus a couple of days ago, so I sent Hedwig to him and asked him about it. Where's Hedwig, by the way?"
"She's out, hunting probably," said Fred.
"Oh, sure. Anyway, you know who actually wrote the letter?" asked Harry, dying to share it with somebody.
"Who?" asked the three Weasleys together.
"Wormtail, that – ", and Harry said something that Hermione wouldn't like to hear.
"What??? Are you serious? Damn it, I hoped You-Know-Who killed him," said Ron.
"Well, turns out that he's still alive… I just hope that he'll be the one to come to my house today, and that Dumbledore will catch him, so he can rot in Azkaban," reacted Harry, hatred flooding him. "But let's not talk about it. When's Hermione coming?"
"I dunno, sometimes this week," answered Ron.
George was about to say something, when Ginny entered the room. "Harry – Professor Dumbledore is downstairs, and he wants to see you," she said, looking excited.
A\N: If you read it for the first time – REVIEW! If you read the previous version – I hope this one is better.
Personal responses:
samayn – as you can see, I decided to change the "love stuff". I agree with you, it CAN ruin the story. Tnx!
hpcrazy – I was thinking about something very close to your idea, so I think I'll combine your idea and mine. It won't appear soon, but I'm pretty sure I will use it. Thank you very much!!
A big thanks to all the other people who reviewed. Thank you, thank you, and thank you.