Chapter Three: Returning to the House of Black

Footsteps pounded up the stairs.

Sighing, Harry glanced at Hedwig. "I hope this doesn't get me expelled from school." He remarked. Hedwig's response was to glide out the window. Harry wished that he could follow her example and escape to safety on his broomstick, but he had to find out if the Dursleys were still alive.

Facing the door, Harry waited until the knob started turning before beginning his spells:

"STUPEFY!"
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS"
"STUPEFY!"

He shouted quickly, hoping that one of his spells would make contact with the intruder. Ducking as one of the spells was bounced back at him, Harry managed to see three figures in the doorway.

Two were standing, closing off Harry's escape, while the third figure was sprawled on the floor, unconscious. Taking in their black, hooded robes and masks, Harry identified them as Death-Eaters, Voldemort's supporters. They both had their wands trained on Harry.

"It seems you've nowhere to run Potter." snarled one of them. Harry winced as he identified the voice of Lucius Malfoy, a wizard who was supposed to be in Azkaban.

Stepping around the figure on the floor, Lucius started toward Harry. In response, Harry backed away from him, until he felt his back come in contact with the bedroom wall. Worried as his was about how he would escape, Harry put on a brave face for the men.

"What do you want with me this time Malfoy?" he asked. Perhaps if he could stall them until the order members arrived...

"This time Potter? This time the Dark Lord simply wants you dead!" said Lucius. Harry smirked.

"This time? Gee, I thought Voldemort's wanted me dead for the last fifteen years. But alas, it seems he's been too weak to fulfill his wishes." Harry was trying to be quick-witted, but verbal sparring wasn't something he was very good at. Harry heard Lucius scoff at him.

"Perhaps his was too weak then, Potter, but you should know how powerful he has become since his return to his body."

"Really? Because last year at the Ministry it seemed he wasn't even able to possess a fifteen year old boy!" Harry laughed.

"Shut up boy. You don't know what you are talking about."

"Oh, but I do. You see, you won't be killing me here." Harry replied confidently.

"And why would you think that?"

"Because-" But Harry never finished his sentence because in that moment a brilliant pulse of light shot through the room and blasted into the Death-Eaters. As they fell to the floor, Harry looked around wildly to find out where the spell had come from. He found nothing.

Looking at the Death-Eaters, Harry noticed that they lay motionless on the floor. Walking forward, he studied their prone bodies. They were breathing, and conscious, but they seemed trapped in an unmovable state. Lucius looked at him with hatred in his eyes, as Harry pulled the man's wand from his grasp. Moving to the next Eater, Harry noticed with a start that the same eyes stared back at him. Lucius' companion was his son, Draco Malfoy! Harry quickly took Draco's wand and then picked up the fallen wand of the Death Eater he'd hit earlier.

Once he'd placed all three wands into an inner pocket of the nearest wizarding robe, Harry pulled on the garment and pointed his wand at his trunk. He quickly shrank all his wizard belongings and placed them in another pocket. Picking up the only thing he hadn't shrunk- his broomstick- Harry walked out into the hall, his wand held firmly in front of him. When he descended the stairs, he gasped in shock. No less than a dozen Death Eaters lay helplessly on the ground. Hurrying past them, Harry moved into the dining room, and then the kitchen. There was no sign of his aunt or uncle, or his cousin.

Glancing around his kitchen, Harry spotted a note on the table. Resting upon it was Moody's magical eye. Lifting the note, Harry read it in amazement.

Harry Potter,
You're welcome for the assistance. This spell will wear off in twenty minutes, so I hope you are wise enough to leave. Next time, less talking and more magic. Do you realize what you almost gave away? I hope you take more care in the future. I am returning Mad-Eye's eye to you, please return it to him at your earliest convenience. I have moved your family to the old squib's home down the street. They are sleeping in the living room and have no memory or injury from tonight's affairs.

-A friend

PS- I've spelled you so that you'll be unable to tell anyone about me, aside from Ron and Hermione. They are spelled in the same manner.

Harry gaped at the paper. Whoever this person was, they were right. He'd almost mentioned that Voldemort would have to be the one to kill him- that nobody else could! Harry froze in horror at the thought for a second before snapping back to reality. He had only five, maybe ten minutes left. Harry quickly went back to the room with the Death Eaters and retrieved their wands. He doubted that they all needed wands, but perhaps being without them would slow them down. As he gathered the wands, he noticed the faces of some of the Death-Eaters. They weren't new to him, but never before had he seen them as Death-Eaters. They were the 'normal muggles' that he'd been suspicious of on the streets.

Hurrying back to the kitchen, Harry was about to open the door when five loud POPS filled the kitchen. Glancing around, Harry saw five order members- Lupin, Tonks, Molly & Arthur Weasley, and Dumbledore arrive in his kitchen. They smiled when they saw him.

"All set Harry?" Molly smiled at him. Harry looked at them and began laughing. They traded confused glances. Before Harry could respond, a large owl swooped in the window.

"What's that?" asked Tonks, as the bird started toward Harry.

"I reckon it's my letter expelling me from Hogwart's." Harry smirked. "Come, I've got to show you something." He led them to the living room, where they stared in confusion at the fallen Death Eaters.

"What did you do?" whispered Mr. Weasley.

"I didn't do anything. But the spell should wear off in a few minutes, so if we could be going now?" Harry gestured to the door.

"Mr. Potter. Kindly explain how it is that you are in a house with over a dozen Death Eaters, all of which are frozen on the floor, and yet you did nothing to stop them." instructed Dumbledore. Harry sighed.

"I can't tell you how it happened, but it did and if we could leave before they wake?" Harry asked feeling slightly annoyed that they weren't grasping the concept.

"Them waking is not a problem for me." said Dumbledore. "The problem is what to do with them? Azkaban has fallen Harry-"

"I know- I read it in the Daily Prophet."

"Then you also know that every prison in the wizarding world was abandoned?"

"Er, no, I guess I didn't read that far." Harry thought, thinking back on how he'd only read the first paragraph of the paper.

"Yes, well, there's nowhere to put them." Dumbledore stated.

"But we can't just leave them here!" exclaimed Tonks, her hair changing from blue to green. Harry raised his eyebrows. What had her so worked up that she was losing control over her abilities?

"I've no intention of letting them walk free, but the fact remains that we've nowhere to take them." Dumbledore replied.

But the problem of where to put them never had to be resolved, for at that moment every Death Eater in the room disappeared with a loud POP! The order members jumped in surprise.

"How'd they do that?" Harry asked.

"Voldemort's call. In their condition, they couldn't control whether they wanted to apparate or not, so they simply did." Lupin supplied. Harry nodded in understanding.

"How unfortunate. To have over a dozen Eaters taken captive would have been miraculous." Arthur Weasley remarked quietly.

"But here's some good news" Harry supplied, reaching into his robes, "I've got-" Then he stopped, frowning at his robe.

"What is it Harry?" asked Molly.

"I collected their wands while they were fallen. But they aren't where I put them." Harry glared at his robe, as if it were somehow responsible.

"Ah, well you see, that is because a wizard can link his wand to him, so that it goes where his does." said Dumbledore kindly. "But you've wouldn't have known that all Death-Eaters are linked to their wands." Harry looked at his feet. He'd wasted time collecting their wands.

"Come now Harry, we really must be going." said Arthur, leading Harry by the elbow.

"Right... ah, how are we going this time?" he asked.

"The same as last." smiled Lupin. Minutes later they were flying through the air on broomsticks, headed to a place that Harry wasn't sure if he was ready to deal with. After an hour's travel- the journey was longer without Moody along- Harry landed in front of a dark, gloomy home.

12 Grimmauld Place- the home of his godfather.

So what do you think?