Disclaimer: How many times will I have to repeat it?? I do not own Harry Potter, and unfortunately, I never will…

Chapter 6: An eventful night

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The afternoon passed quickly and pleasantly. Harry and Ron played a few games of chess, all of which ended, as always, in Ron's victory. Then, Ginny joined them for a game of Exploding snap. The twins were busy with their new idea, so they stayed in their room. The Dursleys were still nowhere to be seen, but Harry didn't worry a bit about them. He was sure they were not going to come out of their room anytime soon, at least not until Dudley's pleas for food will get on Uncle Vernon's nerves.

The evening came, and soon, it was time for dinner. The six Weasleys, Harry, Remus, Tonks and Hestia Jones sat at the table, eating the delicious food made by Mrs. Weasley, and chatting happily. Harry was talking to Ron about Percy.

"His 'pride' just won't let him come and apologize to Mom and Dad," said Ron, "and we are definitely not going to ask him to come to us. So he's stuck in London with Fudge."

"What is Fudge doing these days, anyway?" asked Harry. Remus, who was sitting near him, heard his question and answered.

"Mainly," he said, "trying to ensure that the imprisoned Death Eaters won't escape. Voldemort is probably not going to do anything serious before they are free. Or, at least, we thought so, until you got that letter today."

Just as he said it, the doorbell rang loudly. "I'll get it," said Mrs. Weasley. She went out to the hall, and then they heard her crying, "Alastor, what happened?" She entered back into the kitchen, and then came Dumbledore, Kingsley Shacklebolt, who was limping, and Mad-Eye Moody, whose already scarred face was bleeding, and whose robes were torn. Dumbledore said quietly, "Harry is in this room." Kingsley's eyes widened in surprise, as he suddenly saw Harry before him. The two Aurors and Dumbledore joined the table, and Moody growled angrily, "We didn't catch them."

"Who was it?" asked Remus sharply.

"We never found out," answered Moody bitterly, "they managed to escape before the effect of the Polyjuice had worn off."

"What happened exactly, Alastor?" asked Mr. Weasley.

Moody took out his hip flask, drank, and started talking. "The letter that Potter got told that 'you' will come for him at 7 o'clock, so at a quarter to seven I drank the Polyjuice Potion containing Potter's hair, and became his copy. I was waiting in the kitchen, while Kingsley and Albus were in the living room. Kingsley was wearing my Invisibility Cloak. We were all ready to meet whoever was coming, holding our wands and waiting." He took another sip from the flask, and continued. "A few minutes after 7, there was a knock on the door. I went to open it, while Kingsley and Albus, who also became invisible, joined me. When I opened the door, ready to curse the person standing there, I saw it was 'Arthur' and 'Ron'. They must have somehow got your hairs and made a Polyjuice themselves. I pretended to be very 'happy' to see them, and told them I was going to bring 'my' trunk. Half a minute after that, on my sign, we started attacking them. We had an advantage, because two of us were invisible, but they managed to escape our Stunners. Then, they ran out of the house, sending curses at us. One of them hit Kingsley, and torn the Cloak, so now they could see him. They sent another few curses, and so I was hit in the face. I injured one of them badly enough, he was bleeding heavily, but they apparated before we could catch them. I don't know whether it'll make any difference, but they think it was Potter who fought them, not me." Moody took a final sip, and put the flask back inside his robes.

Everybody was very silent, pondering Moody's story. Harry wondered who were those two Death Eaters, and whether Wormtail was one of them. Then, a question arose inside him. "How did they get the hairs they needed??" he asked quietly.

"It is, indeed, a very important question," answered Dumbledore. "My guess is that Peter got into The Burrow, in his Animagus form, obviously, and took them."

The look on Ron's face was of a pure loathing and disgust. "That… that – " ("Ron!", said Mrs. Weasley) "- was in our house?!" Fred, George and Ginny looked as much disturbed as Ron. Even Mr. Weasley looked disconcerted.

Dumbledore was about to say something, but suddenly, Harry felt a horrible pain in his forehead, and once again, he had the now familiar feeling that his head was about to split into two. The pain in his scar was insufferable, and Harry barely could hold himself from screaming. He let out a muffled shriek, and shut his eyes. For a second, he saw an image of somebody twisting on the floor in a dark room, but then the pain lessened, he opened his eyes, and the image disappeared. His head was spinning, and he felt sick and weak. Remus jumped and grabbed Harry, who almost fell back.

"What happened, Harry?" he asked, panic in his voice. Everybody was looking at Harry, worried, and Dumbledore stood up, too, and approached him.

"My… my scar," whispered Harry, fighting the pain in his head, "it hurts… And I saw an image… of… of somebody being tortured… Vol… Voldemort is mad at something…"

Mrs. Weasley hurried towards him, conjuring a wet cloth and putting it on Harry's head. "He… he needs to lie down, Albus."

"Can you stand, Harry?" asked Remus in a soft voice. Harry tried to shake his head, meaning 'No', but it only made the pain worse. "Here," said Dumbledore, and conjured a stretcher. Together, the three of them helped Harry lie on the stretcher, and then Remus muttered 'Mobilicorpus', and Harry felt floating in the air. He closed his eyes, and opened them only when he was in his room. He rolled from the stretcher onto his bed. Ron, who also followed, sat on his own bed, and was looking at Harry in a frightened look. "Does it still hurt?" he asked, almost whispering.

"Less," Harry managed to say in a shaking voice. He was still trembling, and he closed his eyes again.

"Do you want anything, Harry? Something to drink, perhaps?" asked Remus.

"Water," muttered Harry. "Thanks," he said, taking in his shaking hand the glass that Remus just conjured. He sipped the water slowly, feeling the pain decreasing. He took off his glasses, and rubbed his forehead. "It hasn't been that bad ever since -," his voice broke. The thought of the day of Sirius's death was still painful, particularly now.

"It's alright," said Remus comfortingly, "you need to try and get some sleep. We'll go now, OK?"

"Yes," Harry said. Remus beckoned Ron towards the door, and they went out, turning off the light. Harry turned over, and closed his eyes. The last thought he had before falling asleep was, I didn't try to close my mind, and he trailed off.

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He was walking in a gloomy passage, and entered a dark room. There, standing in front of him, was the man with the red eyes and the snake-like nostrils. The man raised his hand and pointed at him. "This time you escaped, Potter," he hissed, "but next time you won't be that lucky."

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 A\N: A little shorter than usually, but quite eventful, don't you think? But at least I managed to update sooner than I thought :) Well, what are you waiting for? Review!