Chapter
two: Back to the Burrow
Harry woke up to the sound of an insistent tapping on his bedroom window.
"It's too
early, go away," Harry mumbled. The tapping sound only grew louder and finally
got a response from Harry.
"Okay,okay," I'm coming. Harry stood
up and groggily made his way to the window. He opened it and two owls flew in,
one: a snowy white owl, was his own Hedwig. And the
other one was a brown tawny that he didn't recognize. Harry relieved the tawny
owl first and took it to Hedwig's cage to eat and rest. Then he turned to his
own owl.
"How was
your trip?" he asked it. Hedwig nipped his ear affectionately as he untied the
letter on her extended foot and then flew over to the cage as well.
Looking at
the two letters, he saw that one had a Hogwarts seal and decided to open it
first. It was from Dumbledore.
Dear Harry,
I have
written to inform you that I will be buying your school supplies and sending
them either to you or to the Weasley family. As you
know, you are not allowed to leave the Dursley's for
a while until things settle back down. Unless I or another
member of the Order give you permission. Enjoy the rest of the Holidays
and write about anything out of the ordinary and I will
be there as soon as I can.
Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
'Cant even
buy my own supplies!' thought Harry, but he understood about Dumbledore's
instructions. Harry turned to the next letter and found that it was from his
best friend Ronald Weasley.
Hey mate!
Hope the muggles are treating you right!If they aren't then they will get an unpleasant
visit from the member's of the Order. And Mad-Eye can be a little scary at some
points and I suspect that a meeting like this wouldn't end well…Hermione is
coming over next weeekend and she is staying the rest
of the holidays. Mum wants to know if you would like to come over too. Reply
with your answer so we can inform Dumbledore. Dad is still working at the
Ministry trying to keep up with like four departments,
we don't see much of him anymore. Bill and Charlie are on business for the
Order, Percy is still being a prat, and me.. Well I'm doing fine. So how are you? You know Harry….what
happened last year.. It wasn't your fault so don't
blame yourself please. Well I have to go, Fred and
George just blew Mum's muffins up.
Ron
Normally after getting a letter from the outsid world ahrry would reply
immediately, but he didn't feel too well. He decided to catch up on the stuff
that he missed last year, pried up the loose floorboard where he kept all his
valuables, and reread his 4th and 5th year text books. Harry read all of his
books twice and was starting on his third round when he started getting sleepy
and drifted off. As soon as his eyes closed, Harry had nightmares playin on the back of his eyelids like movies, one after
the other. He was plagued by dreams of Voldemort.
*Dream*
"So I
presume that you have made arrangements with the Dementors
from Azkaban?" said an icy voice that belonged ot
someone sitting in a high hard backed chair facing towards a glowing fire in a
stone fireplace. The chair was facin away from Harry.
"Ye-yes
master," said a petrified voice. "They w-will be h-here as soon as
p-p-possible."
"Good,"
said the first voice. The figure stood up. It had on long black robes and a
hood over his face. As he lowered the hood, Harry caught the red eyes of
Voldemort, and a blinding flash of green light sent an exploding sear of pain
through Harry's scar.
Harry sat up in bed and wrapped his arms around hi head, trying to make it stop
hurting.He felt like his head was about to explode.
Then as quickly as it had come, the pain was gone and Harry could see clearly
again.
Shaking,
Harry walked over to his desk and turned on his lamp, light flooded the room.
Rubbing his forehead Harry grabbed some clothes and shakily walked down the
hall to the bathroom to take a shower. He was staring to stink and he was
getting tired of it.
Harry got under the warm water and let it run over his body. He scrubbed his
hair twice with shampoo and cream rinse then he scrubbed his body all over.
Harry stepped out of the shower and decided to change in his room. When he got
there however, it was packed with people. Most of them with
bright red hair.
"Harry!"yelped his best friend
Hermione, pulling him into a hug. Only when she pulled away did she notice that
all Harry had on was a towel wrapped loosely around his waist. Hermione turned
red with embarrassment. Harry also turned away embarrassed and mumbled to them
that he was going to go change. He went down the hallway and changed quickly
then he went back to his room.
He entered
his room to find Hermione and Ron fighting about something. As soon as they saw
Harry the let their voices trail off. Harry could feel the tension.
"What?" he
asked warily. He had a feeling they were fighting about him.
"We were
worried when you didn't answer my letter," said Ron. "So we decided to
come and bring you back."
"How did
you guy get here?" he asked them.
"By broom,"
answered Ron, pointing at a row of brooms against the wall.
"Where's
your stuff?" asked Fred and George.
"Downstairs
in the closet," he answered back.
Without a
word they went downstairs and within a moment they were back again his trunk at
hand.
"Okay mate.
Let's go," said Ron.
"Wait. What
about my trunk?" Harry asked.
"Oh simple." Ginny pulled out her wand mumbled something and the trunk vanished.
This was the first time Ginny had said anything so Harry took a moment to look
her over.
'She looks
better than last year' thought Harry. Harry got all of his things together and
flew off into the night with Hermione and the Weasleys.
______________________________________________________________________
When the
group landed at the Burrow the next morning Mrs.Weasley was in the yard with a
worried look on her face. When she saw all of them land a look of relief filled
her eyes and then that look immediately turned to worry when she looked Harry
over.
"Oh you
poor dear,"she told him. "Didn't them
damn muggles feed you? You are all skin and bones!
Well come on, breakfasts on." she said bustling them all into the house. Once
inside she set the table and loaded Harry's plate first. She loaded it with
eggs. sausage and toast. Then she plunked down a glass
of pumpkin juice and stood there expectantly until he started eating.
As Harry
was assuring Mrs.Weasly that he was stuffed to the
brim, Arthur Weasly came down the stairs.
"Harry!" he
exclaimed. He had a happy look on his face, but there were really dark bags
under his eyes and he looked tired. And he probably was compared to what Ron had
told him in his letter.
"Well I
have to be off. Good seeing you Harry," and with that he walkled
up to the fire place, took a pinch of powder from a flowered vase and threw it
into the fire. When the flames turned emerald he steeped into them and shouted
"Diagon Alley" and was soon traveling on the floo network.
Harry
recalled his first time traveling on the floo
network. It wasn't exactly pleasant, considering he ended up in the wrong gate
in an evil shop with soot all over him, and oh yeah, he ran into his arch enemy
Draco Malfoy. Fortunately Draco didn't see Harry because he hid in a cabinet.
"Earth to
Harry," Ron was waving his hand in Harry's face. " Mum
said we could go to sleep now."
So Harry followed Ron into his room and fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep.
