This is chapter 6. Please, as always, review. : - ) And thanks to all those
who have reviewed, as I've said before, I really appreciate hearing what
you have to say. Sometimes, I get a bit lost and then it's good to get a
push in the right direction : - )
Disclaimer: Harry and Co are J.K Rowling's, I'm just playing around with the characters.
PLATFORM 9 ¾
Harry woke up early that morning. It was time to go back to Hogwarts. He didn't know how he felt about it. Not excited, as he normally was. Well, last year he hadn't been as keen on going back as he had earlier. He'd actually wanted to stay with Sirius, who spent a lot of time being cooped up at number twelve Grimmauld place. Or at least, a part of him had wanted too... But, one good thing about leaving this place was that he would finally be allowed to go outside, having a little more freedom than he had had all summer.
He sighed and sat up and reached out for his glasses. Ron was snoring from the other side of the room, in the bed that had been moved in here. Harry didn't know if he should wake Ron up or not. Then suddenly the door opened and Mrs Weasley came in.
"Good morning, Harry" she said. "So you're awake at least"
"Good morning" he answered.
She looked over at the bed where Ron was still snoring loudly. She went to him, and lay her hand on his shoulder and woke him up. Ron's red hair was a mess on his head; his green eyes were half-open as he slowly sat up. Mrs Weasley left them alone to get dressed.
"I feel like I haven't slept for a week" Ron said and yawned.
"Yeah" Harry said silently and got up and picked up his newly washed clothes.
They went downstairs where Mrs Weasley had outdone herself with the breakfast. Fred and George had returned to their shop in Diagon Alley. Charlie, Hermione and Ginny sat by the table having breakfast.
"Good morning, sleepy heads" Ginny said.
Ron muttered something while Harry said good morning.
"Here we are" Mrs Weasley said as she gave them each a plate with toast, some bacon and eggs. "Now tuck in, you two."
Harry noticed her hand trembling as she put down his plate. Then she lay her hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently before leaving the kitchen. Hermione frowned, so did Ron.
"What was that about?" Ron said, now wide awake.
Charlie looked at Harry.
"Dumbledore suspects that Voldemort might try something on the way to the train station", Charlie said. "So a few of the members of the order are going to go with you, to the train station. Once you're on the train you should be safe.
"Yeah" Ron said and looked at Harry. "Let's hope that Voldemort has other things to do then..."
"Well, he doesn't know where we'll be coming from, Ron" Charlie said. "This house is a well kept secret. Not even Dumbledore knew of its existence. He had heard of it, but never knew it actually was real."
"Good morning, all"
Melinda sat down on the chair opposite Charlie. She seemed a bit distracted. They all mumbled good morning back, Charlie was looking at her.
"Er... Are you going with us?" Harry asked.
Melinda nodded as she reached for the toast Charlie had offered her. She was still not looking at Charlie; she seemed to be far away.
"We should really hurry" she said to Harry. "They're waiting for us. That Moody, always rushing things, he really gets on my nerves with all his safety issues..."
Hermione was looking at Charlie, who was still looking at the stressed Melinda. Harry knew that Hermione had realized it too. Ron's older brother seemed to have a thing for Melinda. She looked at him, then at Hermione, Ginny and Ron.
"Have you packed your things?" she asked. "Moody is never going to leave me alone if we're late... "
"Well, we should really check that we have everything" Hermione said.
They all got up and went up the stairs; Hermione had a weird expression on her face Harry noticed. She looked up at him.
"I don't think that's going to work" she said silently as they stopped in front of Harry and Ron's room.
"What won't work?" Harry asked, though he suspected he did know what Hermione meant.
"You saw the way Charlie looked at her. And she is, I mean, no one actually knows who she is. She just showed up..." Hermione said.
"Are you talking about Melinda Atwood?" Ron asked suddenly. "Because she didn't just show up. Charlie met her in Transylvania, she was helping him recruit members to the order there."
Hermione looked at him.
"And you couldn't have told us that?" she said.
"I don't recall any of you asking me if Charlie knew her..."
Hermione sighed.
"Okay, so Charlie knows her. Has he told you anything else?"
"No. I mean, I only heard about it when he was talking to mom. It's not as if he tells me who he works with. Besides, I haven't seen him much. But I'll tell you this; she's not exactly like any other witch I've ever seen..."
Hermione frowned as she looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for one, those eyes. I don't think I have ever seen a witch with violet eyes."
"So you've noticed that, have you?" Hermione said sourly.
"Well, I mean, she's pretty easy on the eyes as well, I'll say that" Ron said.
Hermione left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Harry tried not to grin.
"What? What did I say this time?" Ron said and looked at Harry and Ginny.
"You figure it out" Ginny said amusedly and walked past him out the door.
Ron frowned, and then he looked up at Harry.
"I have to agree with Ginny" Harry said now smiling. "You figure it out"
"Women!" Ron burst out and sank down on his bed.
After searching through the room for things that had not been packed, the four of them went downstairs where Melinda, Charlie, Remus Lupin, Mad-eye Moody, Tonks, Mr & Mrs Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt were waiting. Mad- eye Moody looked at Harry with that weird eye of his, asking him how he was and if the Dursley's had been giving him a hard time. Tonks greeted him (her hair colour was green now) with a handshake. Kingsley Shacklebolt shook his hand as well. Remus Lupin was the last one to shake his hand, and he looked kind of sad. They were walking out in groups, so that they wouldn't look suspicious to the muggles in the area. Harry stayed in the house with professor Lupin, waiting for Melinda to give them a sign that they could leave the house.
"How are you, Harry?" he asked and looked at him.
"I'm fine" Harry answered. Though he wasn't completely fine, he felt better than he had. Then he looked up at Remus kind face. He was looking at him, and then he nodded.
"You'll be alright Harry" he said. "In time"
Harry saw Melinda giving them the sign (she laughed, that was the sign) and they went outside to the cars that were parked there.
"How did you get these cars, Atwood?" Moody asked inquiringly.
"I used my charming personality." She said.
Moody looked at her, he looked really angry now.
"Alright, Alastor" she said and sighed. "I asked Arthur, he's the one who got the cars, ok? I know you don't trust me..."
"You are too old to behave like this, Atwood" he growled.
"Oh, come one, lighten up, Alastor" she said lightly and went into one of the cars. "Harry, you're in this car"
"You know this could get dangerous. I would like to see you a bit more serious, Atwood" he said silently as he followed her to the car.
She turned around and looked at him, her smile was gone.
"Alastor, you know that I will do everything in my power to protect them if anything should happen. When did I ever fail you, you sweet old man?"
He growled something and walked to the next car. Melinda sighed and started the car. Harry, Hermione and Ron sat in the back seat, smiling. Melinda looked at them through the rear view mirror.
"Finally, some smiling faces. You could think it was the end of the world, seeing as how Alastor is behaving" Melinda said and started to drive towards King's cross, London.
They arrived twenty minutes later; Moody was constantly looking around him, suspecting every shadow to be a death eater. They all seemed to be on their guard, even Melinda. She was no longer smiling, she looked a bit distracted and worried at the same time, Harry thought. They went through the barrier between platform 9 and ten. They went inside in groups as well, since they couldn't very well walk in all of them at once, in case they were seen by muggles.
Harry went through with Melinda, and as they entered, she pulled him with her gently and looked around her.
"I want you to have this. If you ever should need help or just talk, just squeeze it and say my name and I will answer. Keep it hidden though, but always have it on you. "
She gave him a small orb, it looked a bit like a rememberall, but there seemed to be shadows within it, moving around. It started to glow with a faint light in Harry's hand.
"It is an old way of communicating, and therefore it is the safest way to talk to someone from a distance. This kind of magic was lost and forgotten a long time ago, unfortunately. "
Harry looked up at her; she had a sad smile on her face.
"Thanks" Harry said.
She laid her hand on his shoulder.
"Be safe, and remember to empty you mind every night." she said silently.
He nodded.
"Melinda, the train is about to leave, Harry should really get on it" Remus Lupin said.
He had approached them. Melinda nodded and they both followed Harry to the train, where Hermione and Ron were waiting. Mrs Weasley embraced him and told him he had to be careful. She was near tears as she looked at him. Melinda had however told Mrs Weasley to let Harry go so that he could get on the train.
Harry, Hermione and Ron found an unoccupied compartment.
"What did she tell you?" Hermione asked as they sat down.
"Well... The usual, be careful and so on, that I should keep practising occlumency... Oh, and she gave me something, I didn't get the chance to ask her what it was really..."
He showed them the small orb; Hermione studied it with great interest.
"I've never seen heard of anything like it" she said and looked at Harry.
"She only told me it was old, told me I could contact her with it, if I ever needed help or something like that" Harry said.
The door opened, Harry hid the orb inside his jacket. Ginny, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom entered the compartment.
"Hello Harry, Ron, Hermione" Neville said.
"Greetings, all" Luna said, looking at them with her dreamy eyes, the latest edition of The Quibbler in her hand.
They sat down as Harry, Hermione and Ron greeted them. They started to talk, mostly about what they'd done during the summer. They were laughing and talking, never mentioning anything about Voldemort or the darkness and evil that had awakened as he had come back. Not about what had occurred at the beginning of the year in the department of mysteries. Harry didn't think once about all those problems and worries that hung over his head and had been on his mind all summer. At that moment, he was Harry, just Harry.
End of chapter 6
Chapter seven will be here shortly. Please review : - )
Disclaimer: Harry and Co are J.K Rowling's, I'm just playing around with the characters.
PLATFORM 9 ¾
Harry woke up early that morning. It was time to go back to Hogwarts. He didn't know how he felt about it. Not excited, as he normally was. Well, last year he hadn't been as keen on going back as he had earlier. He'd actually wanted to stay with Sirius, who spent a lot of time being cooped up at number twelve Grimmauld place. Or at least, a part of him had wanted too... But, one good thing about leaving this place was that he would finally be allowed to go outside, having a little more freedom than he had had all summer.
He sighed and sat up and reached out for his glasses. Ron was snoring from the other side of the room, in the bed that had been moved in here. Harry didn't know if he should wake Ron up or not. Then suddenly the door opened and Mrs Weasley came in.
"Good morning, Harry" she said. "So you're awake at least"
"Good morning" he answered.
She looked over at the bed where Ron was still snoring loudly. She went to him, and lay her hand on his shoulder and woke him up. Ron's red hair was a mess on his head; his green eyes were half-open as he slowly sat up. Mrs Weasley left them alone to get dressed.
"I feel like I haven't slept for a week" Ron said and yawned.
"Yeah" Harry said silently and got up and picked up his newly washed clothes.
They went downstairs where Mrs Weasley had outdone herself with the breakfast. Fred and George had returned to their shop in Diagon Alley. Charlie, Hermione and Ginny sat by the table having breakfast.
"Good morning, sleepy heads" Ginny said.
Ron muttered something while Harry said good morning.
"Here we are" Mrs Weasley said as she gave them each a plate with toast, some bacon and eggs. "Now tuck in, you two."
Harry noticed her hand trembling as she put down his plate. Then she lay her hand on his shoulder, squeezed it gently before leaving the kitchen. Hermione frowned, so did Ron.
"What was that about?" Ron said, now wide awake.
Charlie looked at Harry.
"Dumbledore suspects that Voldemort might try something on the way to the train station", Charlie said. "So a few of the members of the order are going to go with you, to the train station. Once you're on the train you should be safe.
"Yeah" Ron said and looked at Harry. "Let's hope that Voldemort has other things to do then..."
"Well, he doesn't know where we'll be coming from, Ron" Charlie said. "This house is a well kept secret. Not even Dumbledore knew of its existence. He had heard of it, but never knew it actually was real."
"Good morning, all"
Melinda sat down on the chair opposite Charlie. She seemed a bit distracted. They all mumbled good morning back, Charlie was looking at her.
"Er... Are you going with us?" Harry asked.
Melinda nodded as she reached for the toast Charlie had offered her. She was still not looking at Charlie; she seemed to be far away.
"We should really hurry" she said to Harry. "They're waiting for us. That Moody, always rushing things, he really gets on my nerves with all his safety issues..."
Hermione was looking at Charlie, who was still looking at the stressed Melinda. Harry knew that Hermione had realized it too. Ron's older brother seemed to have a thing for Melinda. She looked at him, then at Hermione, Ginny and Ron.
"Have you packed your things?" she asked. "Moody is never going to leave me alone if we're late... "
"Well, we should really check that we have everything" Hermione said.
They all got up and went up the stairs; Hermione had a weird expression on her face Harry noticed. She looked up at him.
"I don't think that's going to work" she said silently as they stopped in front of Harry and Ron's room.
"What won't work?" Harry asked, though he suspected he did know what Hermione meant.
"You saw the way Charlie looked at her. And she is, I mean, no one actually knows who she is. She just showed up..." Hermione said.
"Are you talking about Melinda Atwood?" Ron asked suddenly. "Because she didn't just show up. Charlie met her in Transylvania, she was helping him recruit members to the order there."
Hermione looked at him.
"And you couldn't have told us that?" she said.
"I don't recall any of you asking me if Charlie knew her..."
Hermione sighed.
"Okay, so Charlie knows her. Has he told you anything else?"
"No. I mean, I only heard about it when he was talking to mom. It's not as if he tells me who he works with. Besides, I haven't seen him much. But I'll tell you this; she's not exactly like any other witch I've ever seen..."
Hermione frowned as she looked at him.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, for one, those eyes. I don't think I have ever seen a witch with violet eyes."
"So you've noticed that, have you?" Hermione said sourly.
"Well, I mean, she's pretty easy on the eyes as well, I'll say that" Ron said.
Hermione left the room, slamming the door shut behind her. Harry tried not to grin.
"What? What did I say this time?" Ron said and looked at Harry and Ginny.
"You figure it out" Ginny said amusedly and walked past him out the door.
Ron frowned, and then he looked up at Harry.
"I have to agree with Ginny" Harry said now smiling. "You figure it out"
"Women!" Ron burst out and sank down on his bed.
After searching through the room for things that had not been packed, the four of them went downstairs where Melinda, Charlie, Remus Lupin, Mad-eye Moody, Tonks, Mr & Mrs Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt were waiting. Mad- eye Moody looked at Harry with that weird eye of his, asking him how he was and if the Dursley's had been giving him a hard time. Tonks greeted him (her hair colour was green now) with a handshake. Kingsley Shacklebolt shook his hand as well. Remus Lupin was the last one to shake his hand, and he looked kind of sad. They were walking out in groups, so that they wouldn't look suspicious to the muggles in the area. Harry stayed in the house with professor Lupin, waiting for Melinda to give them a sign that they could leave the house.
"How are you, Harry?" he asked and looked at him.
"I'm fine" Harry answered. Though he wasn't completely fine, he felt better than he had. Then he looked up at Remus kind face. He was looking at him, and then he nodded.
"You'll be alright Harry" he said. "In time"
Harry saw Melinda giving them the sign (she laughed, that was the sign) and they went outside to the cars that were parked there.
"How did you get these cars, Atwood?" Moody asked inquiringly.
"I used my charming personality." She said.
Moody looked at her, he looked really angry now.
"Alright, Alastor" she said and sighed. "I asked Arthur, he's the one who got the cars, ok? I know you don't trust me..."
"You are too old to behave like this, Atwood" he growled.
"Oh, come one, lighten up, Alastor" she said lightly and went into one of the cars. "Harry, you're in this car"
"You know this could get dangerous. I would like to see you a bit more serious, Atwood" he said silently as he followed her to the car.
She turned around and looked at him, her smile was gone.
"Alastor, you know that I will do everything in my power to protect them if anything should happen. When did I ever fail you, you sweet old man?"
He growled something and walked to the next car. Melinda sighed and started the car. Harry, Hermione and Ron sat in the back seat, smiling. Melinda looked at them through the rear view mirror.
"Finally, some smiling faces. You could think it was the end of the world, seeing as how Alastor is behaving" Melinda said and started to drive towards King's cross, London.
They arrived twenty minutes later; Moody was constantly looking around him, suspecting every shadow to be a death eater. They all seemed to be on their guard, even Melinda. She was no longer smiling, she looked a bit distracted and worried at the same time, Harry thought. They went through the barrier between platform 9 and ten. They went inside in groups as well, since they couldn't very well walk in all of them at once, in case they were seen by muggles.
Harry went through with Melinda, and as they entered, she pulled him with her gently and looked around her.
"I want you to have this. If you ever should need help or just talk, just squeeze it and say my name and I will answer. Keep it hidden though, but always have it on you. "
She gave him a small orb, it looked a bit like a rememberall, but there seemed to be shadows within it, moving around. It started to glow with a faint light in Harry's hand.
"It is an old way of communicating, and therefore it is the safest way to talk to someone from a distance. This kind of magic was lost and forgotten a long time ago, unfortunately. "
Harry looked up at her; she had a sad smile on her face.
"Thanks" Harry said.
She laid her hand on his shoulder.
"Be safe, and remember to empty you mind every night." she said silently.
He nodded.
"Melinda, the train is about to leave, Harry should really get on it" Remus Lupin said.
He had approached them. Melinda nodded and they both followed Harry to the train, where Hermione and Ron were waiting. Mrs Weasley embraced him and told him he had to be careful. She was near tears as she looked at him. Melinda had however told Mrs Weasley to let Harry go so that he could get on the train.
Harry, Hermione and Ron found an unoccupied compartment.
"What did she tell you?" Hermione asked as they sat down.
"Well... The usual, be careful and so on, that I should keep practising occlumency... Oh, and she gave me something, I didn't get the chance to ask her what it was really..."
He showed them the small orb; Hermione studied it with great interest.
"I've never seen heard of anything like it" she said and looked at Harry.
"She only told me it was old, told me I could contact her with it, if I ever needed help or something like that" Harry said.
The door opened, Harry hid the orb inside his jacket. Ginny, Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom entered the compartment.
"Hello Harry, Ron, Hermione" Neville said.
"Greetings, all" Luna said, looking at them with her dreamy eyes, the latest edition of The Quibbler in her hand.
They sat down as Harry, Hermione and Ron greeted them. They started to talk, mostly about what they'd done during the summer. They were laughing and talking, never mentioning anything about Voldemort or the darkness and evil that had awakened as he had come back. Not about what had occurred at the beginning of the year in the department of mysteries. Harry didn't think once about all those problems and worries that hung over his head and had been on his mind all summer. At that moment, he was Harry, just Harry.
End of chapter 6
Chapter seven will be here shortly. Please review : - )