Chapter 2
Harry stepped out of the emerald green flames into a foreign living room. Deep maroonish couches had been fitted into the living room, along with a dark brown timber table. The curtains had been patched up carefully, and looked rather new. Mrs. Black, the house banshee the last time Harry was here, had moved, or as Harry suspected been moved to a smaller portrait where her screams were magically silenced. Her old frame had been slashed all over.
Harry was marveling at the change when Ron and Hermoine came tumbling down the stairs.
"Harry, oh Harry..." squealed a shaken Hermoine. She proceeded to engulf Harry in a gargantuan hug, which Harry declined to reciprocate. Ron and Harry sheepishly shook hands.
"I heard you were attacked..." continued Hermoine, "I thought... Oh Harry... That goodness you're safe." Hermoine hugged Harry again, and heaved a great sigh of relief.
Harry looked over at Dudley, who was presumably looking around for a television, when the warning growl of Muckhead sounded from atop the stairs. Dudley was magically lifted by the collar all the way to the second floor corridor. He mumbled something about hitting Mad-Eye when a magical club appeared and hit his head down. He sulked and grumpily followed Mad- Eye to his room.
"Mum, we're going to the shop.... Don't think Lee can manage the crowd all by himself!" shouted George to Mrs. Weasly.
"While you're at it get me a new quill will you? Mines weathered out..." Mrs. Weasly walked out of the kitchen, and on seeing Harry, started beaming. Fred and George had already disapparated to their shop Harry knew was in Diagon Alley.
"Come on Harry. Bag's already in your room." quipped Ron, already halfway to the stairs.
"We've got loads to tell you..." said Hermoine, suddenly forgetting about the attack on Harry. Harry followed them with a bounce in his step, happy that he was finally going to get news about the happenings in the wizarding world.
Harry went up to his room to unpack, but when he got there, Ginny and Luna were already chattering excitedly about Luna's holiday to Sweden. Hedwig called affectionately from the corner of the room, and Ron's owl, Pigdewigeon, started circling his head again.
"What's she doing here?" Harry looked inqusitively at Luna.
"And what was I doing at the ministry putting my life on the line?" answered Luna, obviously offended.
"Luna's father, Harry, joined the Order after hearing of what Luna did at the ministry that night. Dumbledore thought it would be to our advantage if there were a medium to spread any news of Vol – Voldemort's return..." informed Hermoine.
"Oh... Sorry..." mumbled Harry feebly.
"Anyway Harry, as we were saying..." continued Hermoine, "we've got loads to tell you!"
"The last time we heard, You-Know-Who's supporters got out of Azkaban along with the Dementors." Ron chipped in.
"And giants were seen flocking out of their dwellings..." said Ginny, shivering at the thought.
"They even attacked a mountain town!" exclaimed Luna excitedly.
"That is utter nonsense..." said Ron.
"No it isn't... My father interviewed those people personally." retaliated Luna.
"Your father interviewed people who wanted their names on The Quibbler..." mumbled Hermoine. Luna scowled at the statement, but could find no words to answer.
"Anyway..." Harry decided it was time for him to speak. He had been rather quiet all summer, preferring to stay quiet and think about his Godfather. In his mind, there was no way he could rid himself of the guilt of killing his own Godfather. He had often sobbed at this, but knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
"Who was it that attacked me?" he completed his statement, amidst the murmurs of the others.
"According to Fred, it was Macnair. That is if we could trust anything they said nowadays. They keep teasing us about not being of age to be in the Order..." Ron scowled at his brothers.
"Anyway how's their business doing?" inquired Harry, fully aware that he was somewhat a shareholder.
"Fine enough..." said Ron, "at least that's what mum told us when she found the vault full of Galleons!" chuckled Ron.
"I even heard that Professor Flitwick has become a huge fan of some of their creations. Says that they are wonderful pieces of charmwork should another Umbridge like person come his way..." said Ginny, face blushing.
"Ah... Then we shall not be able to use the Skiving Snackboxes in his class then?" joked Luna sheepishly, peering up from The Quibbler.
"Oh put that book away already! You've been reading it for hours." Said Ginny, obviously irritated.
Harry recalled last year, when he met Luna on the Hogwarts express, reading The Quibbler upside-down. He was feeling much better, after being updated about the happenings in the wizarding world. His heart jumped, noticing for the first time his Firebolt in the corner of the room.
"Oh yeah... Dumbledore left it for you. Says the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher spotted it while unpacking." Ron said.
"I wonder who he is... Speaking about school..." Hermoine said.
"She's going to ask you how well you did for the OWLs. She got 'O' for everything. Not that it wasn't expected..." Ron interrupted. Hermoine threw a reproachful look at him.
"I got 3Os, 3Es, 2Ds and 1A... Not bad by my mum's standards. But I suspect she lowered her standards after Fred and George came home with their results." Ron continued. "I got 4Os, 2Es, 2Ds and 1A..." Harry said, very much more cheerful than before.
"Surprise that I got an 'O' for potions... I bet that's what you missed the 'O' out on..." quipped Harry.
"Oh... All you needed to do was to work a little harder and you would have gotten much better results." sighed Hermoine.
At that moment Mrs. Weasly stepped inside, informing them that dinner was ready.
All 5 of them filed down to the kitchen, and Harry spotted Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon sitting at one end of the table, Uncle Vernon with his arms crossed and face redder than usual. Dudley seemed to be quite culture shocked; no television and video games must have been worst than anything in the world to him. His exercise regime that he had fixed up to regain his boxing title had been interrupted because of this. Harry felt sorry for him, because boxing seemed to be the only thing he was good at.
Beef stew and Butterbeer flew towards the table, and Harry heard a chuckle from someone he thought very familiar. He looked over the stove, and standing next to Mrs Weasly was Dobby the house elf. Harry could see why Dobby was chuckling. The Dursleys, who were not too accustomed to having food flying to their tables, looked extremely disturbed and shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Dudley reached out for the beef stew, but the plate evaded his grasp as Mrs Weasly walked to the table with the mash potato and the coleslaw.
"Manners boy... Don't you muggles have proper table manners?" she said, seating herself right next to Dudley. Dudley pulled his hand back stupidly, knocking over the just filled mug of Butterbeer.
'Scourgify.' sighed Tonks. "Wonder what you people do without magic..."
Aunt Petunia looked indigant at the insult of her dearest Diddle-Dums, but refused to open her thin lips in his defence. She ladled some of the mashed potatoes onto her plate, and finding nothing to critisize, went back to her plate. Halfway through dinner, Uncle Vernon surprisingly struck up conversation.
"How exactly do you propose I go to work?" he started abruptly, "you don't expect me to simply appear of go through the fireplace do you?"
"And why would you think that Mr Dursley?" replied Lupin.
"Because there is not fireplace in my office..." said Uncle Vernon curtly.
"Arr... I'm sure there's a wizarding home somewhere who's fireplace we can use... Don't worry about it Mr Dursley, we'll work it out tommorow," replied Mad-Eye.
"I AM GOING TO WORK TOMMOROW!" boomed Uncle Vernon.
"Surely not..." Lupin faked an incredulous look, "it's Saturday tommorow, and if you happen to be the type that works on Saturdays, we permit you to rest sir... In the meantime, I advise you to keep your temper in check."
Uncle Vernon inaudible, and proceeded to jab his beef patty with unnecessary strength.
"I think you will find that the beef is already dead. There's no need to kill it once more Mr Dursley." said Mrs Weasly, with a nonchalant look on her face. Obviously the Dursleys had never been so humiliated before, because Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia finished up their food and left the table quickly. Dudley, who was not quick enough to catch wind of anything, continued gorging himself. He soon started asking about tools to continue his exercise regime, telling them about dumbells and pull-up bars.
"The only sport we play here is Quidditch." said Ron, biting into another piece of steak. "If you'd like it we could teach you."
Dudley seemed to have shaked his head, but with his thick neck it was pretty hard to see.
"Enough is enough boy. It's not the last time you eat you know..." said Mrs Weasly. Dudley was stunned when the food disappeared right out of his hands.
Harry waved to Dobby, and Dobby waved back with a child-like enthusiasm. He made his way up the stairs, wondering what they would be doing the rest of the time here. Mrs Black was now mumbling in the tunes of "Muggles! Muggles in the once noble house of Black!" Harry laughed as he watched Dudley's stunned expression as when he heard the portrait screeching at him. He hurried up into his room, thinking he was seeing things.
When he stepped into his room the three girls were already assembled, giggling about things Harry knew nothing of. The giggles supressed after a while. The attack on the Dursley's home had once again crept into his mind. Why would Macnair attack a helpless Aunt Petunia? Couldn't he have used her as a hostage instead? What was to happen to him now that the Dementors left?
"What's going to happen to Macnair now that Azkaban's closed down?" Harry asked.
"I think you're mistaken Harry, Azkaban's not closed down..." Hermoine answered.
"Ministry of Magic officials guard the prison now..." Ron chipped in.
"They've fitted bars, like in a Muggle prison..." added Ginny.
"I heard that banshees are used for interrogation and alarm now..." Luna said.
"What you hear is not exactly reliable Luna..." Hermoine replied, not exactly trying to gain favour. Luna scowled, but did not dare retaliate, knowing well she would be outspoken.
Dudley stepped into the room, and looked stupidly at them before grunting, "Errr... Wrong room..."
"What's that muddle head up to now?" Ron scowled, irritated.
"Probably looking for some Jell-O..." Harry replied, knowing well Dudley's midnight snacking habits.
"Jell-O?" Ron looked at Harry, seemingly thinking about something. Ginny sniggered.
"I think he found his Jell-O Harry... Not his, Fred and George's" she siad and broke into fits of laughter. Harry laughed as well, but Hermoine remained belligerently quiet. Loud, monstrous burps issued from a few doors away.
A loud crack sounded from nowhere, and Fred and George apparated into the room.
"Nice one eh, Harry?" quipped George.
"Not nice... Wicked! Flitwick would've paid to see this one work. He thought us the charm to make the slugs look like Jell-O and taste like Jell- O!" continued George.
"My oh my! What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" the loud, shrill voice of Mrs Weasly sounded in the corridor.
Ginny and Luna giggled, while Hermoine stuck with her nonchalant, straight face.
"I would think it's time for us to go to bed..." said Hermoine, stifling a yawn. The girls filed out of the room, and Harry and Ron were left to nod off a day's hard work.
Harry stepped out of the emerald green flames into a foreign living room. Deep maroonish couches had been fitted into the living room, along with a dark brown timber table. The curtains had been patched up carefully, and looked rather new. Mrs. Black, the house banshee the last time Harry was here, had moved, or as Harry suspected been moved to a smaller portrait where her screams were magically silenced. Her old frame had been slashed all over.
Harry was marveling at the change when Ron and Hermoine came tumbling down the stairs.
"Harry, oh Harry..." squealed a shaken Hermoine. She proceeded to engulf Harry in a gargantuan hug, which Harry declined to reciprocate. Ron and Harry sheepishly shook hands.
"I heard you were attacked..." continued Hermoine, "I thought... Oh Harry... That goodness you're safe." Hermoine hugged Harry again, and heaved a great sigh of relief.
Harry looked over at Dudley, who was presumably looking around for a television, when the warning growl of Muckhead sounded from atop the stairs. Dudley was magically lifted by the collar all the way to the second floor corridor. He mumbled something about hitting Mad-Eye when a magical club appeared and hit his head down. He sulked and grumpily followed Mad- Eye to his room.
"Mum, we're going to the shop.... Don't think Lee can manage the crowd all by himself!" shouted George to Mrs. Weasly.
"While you're at it get me a new quill will you? Mines weathered out..." Mrs. Weasly walked out of the kitchen, and on seeing Harry, started beaming. Fred and George had already disapparated to their shop Harry knew was in Diagon Alley.
"Come on Harry. Bag's already in your room." quipped Ron, already halfway to the stairs.
"We've got loads to tell you..." said Hermoine, suddenly forgetting about the attack on Harry. Harry followed them with a bounce in his step, happy that he was finally going to get news about the happenings in the wizarding world.
Harry went up to his room to unpack, but when he got there, Ginny and Luna were already chattering excitedly about Luna's holiday to Sweden. Hedwig called affectionately from the corner of the room, and Ron's owl, Pigdewigeon, started circling his head again.
"What's she doing here?" Harry looked inqusitively at Luna.
"And what was I doing at the ministry putting my life on the line?" answered Luna, obviously offended.
"Luna's father, Harry, joined the Order after hearing of what Luna did at the ministry that night. Dumbledore thought it would be to our advantage if there were a medium to spread any news of Vol – Voldemort's return..." informed Hermoine.
"Oh... Sorry..." mumbled Harry feebly.
"Anyway Harry, as we were saying..." continued Hermoine, "we've got loads to tell you!"
"The last time we heard, You-Know-Who's supporters got out of Azkaban along with the Dementors." Ron chipped in.
"And giants were seen flocking out of their dwellings..." said Ginny, shivering at the thought.
"They even attacked a mountain town!" exclaimed Luna excitedly.
"That is utter nonsense..." said Ron.
"No it isn't... My father interviewed those people personally." retaliated Luna.
"Your father interviewed people who wanted their names on The Quibbler..." mumbled Hermoine. Luna scowled at the statement, but could find no words to answer.
"Anyway..." Harry decided it was time for him to speak. He had been rather quiet all summer, preferring to stay quiet and think about his Godfather. In his mind, there was no way he could rid himself of the guilt of killing his own Godfather. He had often sobbed at this, but knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
"Who was it that attacked me?" he completed his statement, amidst the murmurs of the others.
"According to Fred, it was Macnair. That is if we could trust anything they said nowadays. They keep teasing us about not being of age to be in the Order..." Ron scowled at his brothers.
"Anyway how's their business doing?" inquired Harry, fully aware that he was somewhat a shareholder.
"Fine enough..." said Ron, "at least that's what mum told us when she found the vault full of Galleons!" chuckled Ron.
"I even heard that Professor Flitwick has become a huge fan of some of their creations. Says that they are wonderful pieces of charmwork should another Umbridge like person come his way..." said Ginny, face blushing.
"Ah... Then we shall not be able to use the Skiving Snackboxes in his class then?" joked Luna sheepishly, peering up from The Quibbler.
"Oh put that book away already! You've been reading it for hours." Said Ginny, obviously irritated.
Harry recalled last year, when he met Luna on the Hogwarts express, reading The Quibbler upside-down. He was feeling much better, after being updated about the happenings in the wizarding world. His heart jumped, noticing for the first time his Firebolt in the corner of the room.
"Oh yeah... Dumbledore left it for you. Says the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher spotted it while unpacking." Ron said.
"I wonder who he is... Speaking about school..." Hermoine said.
"She's going to ask you how well you did for the OWLs. She got 'O' for everything. Not that it wasn't expected..." Ron interrupted. Hermoine threw a reproachful look at him.
"I got 3Os, 3Es, 2Ds and 1A... Not bad by my mum's standards. But I suspect she lowered her standards after Fred and George came home with their results." Ron continued. "I got 4Os, 2Es, 2Ds and 1A..." Harry said, very much more cheerful than before.
"Surprise that I got an 'O' for potions... I bet that's what you missed the 'O' out on..." quipped Harry.
"Oh... All you needed to do was to work a little harder and you would have gotten much better results." sighed Hermoine.
At that moment Mrs. Weasly stepped inside, informing them that dinner was ready.
All 5 of them filed down to the kitchen, and Harry spotted Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon sitting at one end of the table, Uncle Vernon with his arms crossed and face redder than usual. Dudley seemed to be quite culture shocked; no television and video games must have been worst than anything in the world to him. His exercise regime that he had fixed up to regain his boxing title had been interrupted because of this. Harry felt sorry for him, because boxing seemed to be the only thing he was good at.
Beef stew and Butterbeer flew towards the table, and Harry heard a chuckle from someone he thought very familiar. He looked over the stove, and standing next to Mrs Weasly was Dobby the house elf. Harry could see why Dobby was chuckling. The Dursleys, who were not too accustomed to having food flying to their tables, looked extremely disturbed and shifted uncomfortably in their seats. Dudley reached out for the beef stew, but the plate evaded his grasp as Mrs Weasly walked to the table with the mash potato and the coleslaw.
"Manners boy... Don't you muggles have proper table manners?" she said, seating herself right next to Dudley. Dudley pulled his hand back stupidly, knocking over the just filled mug of Butterbeer.
'Scourgify.' sighed Tonks. "Wonder what you people do without magic..."
Aunt Petunia looked indigant at the insult of her dearest Diddle-Dums, but refused to open her thin lips in his defence. She ladled some of the mashed potatoes onto her plate, and finding nothing to critisize, went back to her plate. Halfway through dinner, Uncle Vernon surprisingly struck up conversation.
"How exactly do you propose I go to work?" he started abruptly, "you don't expect me to simply appear of go through the fireplace do you?"
"And why would you think that Mr Dursley?" replied Lupin.
"Because there is not fireplace in my office..." said Uncle Vernon curtly.
"Arr... I'm sure there's a wizarding home somewhere who's fireplace we can use... Don't worry about it Mr Dursley, we'll work it out tommorow," replied Mad-Eye.
"I AM GOING TO WORK TOMMOROW!" boomed Uncle Vernon.
"Surely not..." Lupin faked an incredulous look, "it's Saturday tommorow, and if you happen to be the type that works on Saturdays, we permit you to rest sir... In the meantime, I advise you to keep your temper in check."
Uncle Vernon inaudible, and proceeded to jab his beef patty with unnecessary strength.
"I think you will find that the beef is already dead. There's no need to kill it once more Mr Dursley." said Mrs Weasly, with a nonchalant look on her face. Obviously the Dursleys had never been so humiliated before, because Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia finished up their food and left the table quickly. Dudley, who was not quick enough to catch wind of anything, continued gorging himself. He soon started asking about tools to continue his exercise regime, telling them about dumbells and pull-up bars.
"The only sport we play here is Quidditch." said Ron, biting into another piece of steak. "If you'd like it we could teach you."
Dudley seemed to have shaked his head, but with his thick neck it was pretty hard to see.
"Enough is enough boy. It's not the last time you eat you know..." said Mrs Weasly. Dudley was stunned when the food disappeared right out of his hands.
Harry waved to Dobby, and Dobby waved back with a child-like enthusiasm. He made his way up the stairs, wondering what they would be doing the rest of the time here. Mrs Black was now mumbling in the tunes of "Muggles! Muggles in the once noble house of Black!" Harry laughed as he watched Dudley's stunned expression as when he heard the portrait screeching at him. He hurried up into his room, thinking he was seeing things.
When he stepped into his room the three girls were already assembled, giggling about things Harry knew nothing of. The giggles supressed after a while. The attack on the Dursley's home had once again crept into his mind. Why would Macnair attack a helpless Aunt Petunia? Couldn't he have used her as a hostage instead? What was to happen to him now that the Dementors left?
"What's going to happen to Macnair now that Azkaban's closed down?" Harry asked.
"I think you're mistaken Harry, Azkaban's not closed down..." Hermoine answered.
"Ministry of Magic officials guard the prison now..." Ron chipped in.
"They've fitted bars, like in a Muggle prison..." added Ginny.
"I heard that banshees are used for interrogation and alarm now..." Luna said.
"What you hear is not exactly reliable Luna..." Hermoine replied, not exactly trying to gain favour. Luna scowled, but did not dare retaliate, knowing well she would be outspoken.
Dudley stepped into the room, and looked stupidly at them before grunting, "Errr... Wrong room..."
"What's that muddle head up to now?" Ron scowled, irritated.
"Probably looking for some Jell-O..." Harry replied, knowing well Dudley's midnight snacking habits.
"Jell-O?" Ron looked at Harry, seemingly thinking about something. Ginny sniggered.
"I think he found his Jell-O Harry... Not his, Fred and George's" she siad and broke into fits of laughter. Harry laughed as well, but Hermoine remained belligerently quiet. Loud, monstrous burps issued from a few doors away.
A loud crack sounded from nowhere, and Fred and George apparated into the room.
"Nice one eh, Harry?" quipped George.
"Not nice... Wicked! Flitwick would've paid to see this one work. He thought us the charm to make the slugs look like Jell-O and taste like Jell- O!" continued George.
"My oh my! What trouble have you gotten yourself into now?" the loud, shrill voice of Mrs Weasly sounded in the corridor.
Ginny and Luna giggled, while Hermoine stuck with her nonchalant, straight face.
"I would think it's time for us to go to bed..." said Hermoine, stifling a yawn. The girls filed out of the room, and Harry and Ron were left to nod off a day's hard work.