Chapter 3

Departure

The next morning, Tara woke up to the sunlight streaming through the open window on her face. Blinking against the bright light, she vaguely wondered why the window was open. Then she noticed Harry. In her bedroom. She shrieked.

"What?" he said, looking around at her.

"W—what are you doing here?"

"The Witches got me out of bed really early and told me a bunch of what Dumbledore said to them. Then they said to send an owl to the Order."

"Order?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot. You don't know. The Order of the Phoenix is a resistance group against Voldemort. Ron's parents and older brothers are in it, my friend Remus Lupin, a bunch of Aurors...you know, everybody who wanted to join."

"Do you know Percy?" Tara blurted out. Great, she thought. What else am I going to let slip?

"Why? Do you know Percy?" Harry asked, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"Well, not really. I...guess I better explain about the Harry Potter Fan Club journal, huh?"

"If it'll explain how you know who Percy is."

Tara breathed deeply. "Okay, um...Do you know Natalie McDonald?"

"Yeah. She's a fourth-year, isn't she?"

"Yes, she is. Well, she has a Harry Potter Fan Club journal, too."

"Mm-hmm."

"And we can have conversations through it."

He turned grim. "What, you've had her spy on me?"

"Not in the complete sense of the word...well, yes, you could put it that way."

He remained silent, so Tara continued.

"And she had an older sister, who was friends with Bill, so she knows all about the Weasleys, and I wanted to know about your best friends. So...yeah. I just wanted to know if Percy was in the Order, because from what she told me, he's not the brave sort of person."

Harry's face turned wistful and angry at the same time, as if he were remembering a horrible memory. "No, he said at last, bitterly and with spite. "For a while, the Ministry of Magic denied that Voldemort—what?"

"Nothing," Tara said quickly. She couldn't help wincing at a name so evil.

"They denied he was back at all. Of course, Percy's ambition was to support the Ministry in any way possible, and he moved out. Well, when the Ministry finally came to their senses, Percy pretended it was his family that had believed Voldemort to still be gone, and...no, he never joined the Order."

"Oh." What else was there to say?"

"Yeah."

"Where are Natalie and Hermione?" Tara asked.

"I don't know. Even if it is Saturday, I don't know too many people who sleep until eleven."

"Is it eleven?" she cried, jumping out of bed.

"Yes," he replied, urging his white owl out the window.

Just then, Ron came in and stopped dead. "Why are you still in your nightclothes?"

"I just woke up," Tara answered him, grabbing some clothes and hurrying into the bathroom. "You two better not come in here, got it?"

"Mmm," Ron replied, concentrating on the owl's disappearing figure.

* * *

Once Tara had changed, she led Harry and Ron down to the dining room, where she was able to snatch a piece of fruit from the containers that were being packed away. Harry found Hermione from across the room, and the three of them went to go talk to her. Once they sat down, however, Tara noticed that she could be intruding on their best friend privacy, so she stood up to leave.

"Where're you going?" Ron asked blankly.

"I dunno. To find Natalie, maybe."

"Tara," Hermione said bluntly, "stay. Anything we're going to talk about has everything to do with you."

"Thanks," Tara told her sincerely, sitting back down again.

I hate these awkward lulls, Tara thought after a few silent seconds. "So..." she said, but it was more of an exhalation than actual speech.

"Yes, well, um..." Hermione tried.

Ron said the most obvious thing any of them could have said: "So, Harry, what do you want to talk about?"

Harry chuckled, Hermione giggled, and Tara laughed aloud.

"Something that's happened in the past twenty-four hours," Harry replied with a grin.

"How about that dream?" Hermione suggested in a lower tone.

"Or what really happened," Harry reminded her.

"Yeah. How could I be there when I was here?" Tara asked.

Hermione looked around at the three of them. "Well, it says in Hogwarts, A History..."

"Would you cut it out with the stupid book?" Ron bellowed. Many people looked at him.

"It says that Hogwarts is protected by anti-Disapparation spells at Hogwarts. That's why you had to find your way through the forest before you could leave... But what about you, Tara? The Institute has got to have the same protection..."

"No," Tara said. Ron and Harry stared until she continued, "I've...I've read The History of the Institute."

Ron gawked.

"We don't have those protective spells. Don't know why."

"Well! That explains a lot," Hermione breathed, sitting back in her seat. "But where'd the thestral come from?"

"Maybe it was a sign," Harry suggested, casting a furtive glance at Hermione. "Of what's to come now me and Tara are in the same place. Maybe we'll see someone die."

Tara coughed suddenly, and it took five minutes and a glass of water before she could stop. And for once, Ron was the one with the understanding light in his eyes.

Tara, embarrassed, looked at Harry, who seemed to be willing all his courage to say something. Hermione noticed, too. "Harry, are you all right?"

"Hermione, can I tell you something? Somewhere else?" he said, not really answering her question.

"Um, sure." She followed suit in standing up, but Ron stopped Harry.

"Wait, Harry, read this later," he said, handing him a ball of paper.

"Okay," Harry said, confused. "C'mon, Hermione."

Tara and Ron waited until Harry and Hermione were out in the hallway, and then Ron pulled out an ear connected to a long, fleshy piece of string that was presumably attached to the wad of paper that he had given Harry.

"My older brothers' invention. Extendable Ears," Ron said quickly before the jammed their ears onto the extendable one.

"Hermione, I have to tell you something," Harry was saying.

"Yes, Harry?" Hermione answered, her voice trembling slightly.

"Hermione, I should have told you last year after...after what happened...but I was afraid...Hermione, I've liked you ever since you stood up for us when we battled that troll and...and...I've always been afraid to tell you. And something that might happen...Tara said she saw the thestral, too...it might be my last battle against Voldemort. Tara might be the one to defeat him after he gets his revenge on me."

Tara and Ron were silent. So, too, was Hermione.

"Hermione, say something."

"No, no, I was just thinking," Hermione said.

"What else is new?" Ron muttered under his breath.

"How many times have I tried to get up the courage to tell you that I feel the same way?"

Tara held her breath in excitement.

"Oh—"

Hermione had let out a little yelp of delight, and Tara and Ron could hear no words but some other sound in the background.

"They're making out!" Tara squeaked.

"Huh?" Ron said, clueless.

"Kissing!" Tara said exasperatedly.

"Oh, yeah," Ron said. "I wondered when they'd be getting around to it."

Their eardrums were shattered by a piercing scream, which emanated from the Ear in Ron's hand. Ron turned a ghastly pale hue.

"Hermione!" he hissed.

Together, Tara and Ron shot through the doors that Harry and Hermione had gone through only a few minutes before, only to find the hallway deserted.

"Harry?" Ron yelled.

"Hermione!" Tara shrieked.

Other students were starting to stare. Tara grabbed Ron's arm. "We've got to go the Witches. Now."

Ron followed Tara through the maze of staircases and halls. Dashing through crowds of excited students, into secret passages, and—

"Oof!"

—bumping into Natalie.

"What's the matter?" Natalie cried, seeing the looks on their faces. Josh, at her shoulder, looked vaguely concerned.

"Come on! Harry and Hermione are gone!"

Josh pulled a blank face. "Wha—" But Natalie was already two feet ahead of him, and she already had hold of his arm. The four of them hurdled down a hall toward a door. But before they could reach it, it opened.

"Children?"

"They're gone—"

"—aren't they?"

"Yes," Tara panted to the Salem Witches.

"We were afraid this would happen."

"This isn't good."

"Now you'll be pulled to him."

"What?" Natalie said in disbelief.

"Now that they know of each other—"

"—and don't hate each other—"

"—they'll be drawn together always until Voldemort is defeated."

Ron cringed, but Tara was beyond caring. "You mean I'm going to disappear and go where he—ow!"

"What?" Ron asked concernedly.

"Ow, it hurts," Tara moaned, almost doubled over in pain.

"Tara! Your feet!" Natalie shrieked, pointing.

It took all her strength to look at her feet, and she almost passed out. Her feet were gone, and her ankles were going with them.

"You three better go with her."

"Grab a body part."

"Good luck."

Josh laid a hand on one of her shoulders, Natalie took the other, and Ron held her hand. The pain became worse and worse, and just when Tara thought she would succumb, they were whirling in a rush of colors to an unknown destination.