CHAPTER THREE

It was 10.30 and Harry was already waiting near the door, his suitcases all ready packed and his Firebolt carefully wrapped up in a long thin plastic bag. He had half played with the idea of leaving it behind but he shuddered at the thought of what would happen if it had to fall into Dudley hands.

In the background he could hear the rattling and splashing of Aunt Petunia in the kitchen as she cleaned up after Dudley's second breakfast. He yawned- he was still tired from last night's bad dreams- and slouched down on a ratty old suitcase of his. He leaned back and thought drearily about De-allón. Suddenly he fully realised what he was about to embark on- he was going to be away from all that he knew best for three whole days. From the wizarding world, from his "family"- no loss there- from his friends…

His friends. All of a sudden the thought of Hermione and Ron struck a lonely chord inside him- he did miss them very much after all, and would even more now- he was going to be on a whole different world, for heaven's sake…

The shrill sound of the Dursleys' doorbell suddenly interrupted his thoughts. He checked his watch- it was now 10.45- they were early. Very odd for wizards.

He stood up to open the door but his hand froze close to the handle as frenzied barks and yaps suddenly cut through the silence. Then Lupin's voice rang anxiously out-

"Harry, don't open the door! For goodness' sake, whatever you do, don't open the door!"

Harry stepped backwards in alarm. Through the Fibreglass of the door he could see the silhouettes of both Moody and Lupin. They appeared to be both crouching over something on the ground- Harry couldn't see what. Then he heard shouts.

"Alastor, no! I forbid you to do that, it's cruelty to- ouch! Gyp, stop, stop, stop! Alastor, put that thing away; here, give him a biscuit, you know he likes frog flavour best- Argh! Alastor- ahh…"

Very much taken aback, Harry hovered about the door anxiously, wondering whether he should open the door or not. Eventually the barking and shouting became so loud that Aunt Petunia came bustling out of the kitchen, her face red as a ripe tomato- with fury, of course.

"What is going on out there?" she demanded of Harry, who started to panic. "Is it that batty old woman from next door? Has she hired pit bulls to kill off those awful old cats of hers-"

She broke off and her face turned white as she caught sight of the shadows behind the door.

"For goodness' sake, if it's your friends, don't leave them on the doorstep! God knows what the neighbours must be seeing!" she hissed, and before Harry could stop her she grabbed hold of the handle and pulled the door open.

There was an anguished cry of "I told him not to open the door!" and a small furry explosion leapt into the house- and onto Aunt Petunia. She shrieked and fell backwards on the floor, while the small excited- thing- tried vainly to bite her upturned face.

Lupin burst in, closely followed by Moody, and took in the scene with one, antagonized glance. "Oh, Gyp! How many times?" he cried. "Don't worry ma'am, we'll have him off you in no time at all," and with that he leapt onto Mrs. Dursley, who had by now fainted dead away, and grabbed hold of the creature. "Quick Moody," he yelled over screeching yelps, "I'm going to go outside with Gyp; as soon as I've done that, revive Mrs Dursley, and Harry, grab your things and come outside now!"

"What's going on here?"

Dudley had just appeared, his face purple- just like his father's. Harry gave an inward groan but willingly did as he was told, grabbing his luggage and shoving it together with himself out of the door, leaving Moody to cope with the mess indoors.

Outside it was still chilly- the summer hadn't got any better. Yet the sky seemed to have an almost peaceful aura about it- strangely there was not a cloud in sight, although it was freezingly grey and the sun was nowhere to be seen. It was the strangest weather Harry had ever experienced.

"Strange weather, isn't it?" said Lupin, frowning. He had managed to overcome the small creature, which was now sitting despondently on the ground. Harry looked at it curiously. "What is that thing?" he asked. It looked like a small Jack Russell terrier.

"That's a Crup," explained Lupin. (A/N: Those of you who have it, look up "Crup" in Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them). "They're very loyal to wizards, but not very fond of Muggles- which is why he attacked your aunt so ferociously."

"So why did you bring him along then?"

"I wouldn't have brought him along for all the tea in China- if it wasn't for Tonks, that is," said Lupin. "You see, she found him abandoned at The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And, being the soft- hearted woman she is, she took it into her head to bring him home to Grimmauld Place. You see, it can get very dull over there, as- as I'm sure you've found out," he said awkwardly, "and, well, to cut a long story short, there was nobody at Grimmauld Place today as Tonks had to go off early to work, so we ended up babysitting him."

Harry looked down at the animal again, which gave a small yap and tried to walk on his hind legs, falling backwards after a few seconds.

"He's just showing off," said Lupin, a tad fondly. "Ah, here comes Alastor."

Harry looked round and saw Moody carefully shutting the front door. He limped over to where they were standing with Gyp. "Thanks for leaving me to deal with all that mess, both of you," he growled.

"Alastor, you know Gyp can't possibly be left alone, especially not in this neighbourhood," scolded Lupin. "Did you manage-"

"Yeah, I did, and it was no easy task," grumbled Moody, "I had half a mind to stun that cousin of yours, Harry, he was squealing so much. But, but," he said hastily, seeing the alarmed look on Lupin's face, "they're both fine now, memory wiped and all that. I left them a note saying Harry's gone." He sighed and stretched his arms. "I just wish Tonks wasn't so impulsive all the time. God knows what she's unleashed on the unsuspecting south."

"Well," said Lupin, picking up one of Harry's suitcases, "shall we get a move on, then?"

"You two walk in front- I'll tail you. You never know when we might be ambushed," growled Moody.

Lupin rolled his eyes but both Harry and him knew better than to argue with Moody.

"So, Harry," said Lupin quietly, when they were well out of the way of the Dursleys' neighbourhood, "how have you been holding up these past few weeks?"

"Not too bad," mumbled Harry. Lupin raised his eyebrows. Harry looked him in the eyes and noticed that there were a good deal of lines on the older man's face that had not been there before this summer. "Actually, not too good, either," he admitted. "It's hard, you know…?"

Lupin nodded and said, "I won't lie to you, Harry- this summer's been the worst I've ever had as well. It's not only the loss- it's the huge sweep of panic speeding through the wizarding world."

"Oh, so they've finally woken up, then?" said Harry, suddenly bitter. The press had been less than kind to him during his fifth year at Hogwarts.

"Oh yes, the Daily Prophet is full with things about the accused Death Eaters, about how to brush up on Stunning and Disarming Spells, and how to recognise an Unforgivable Curse… things like that," said Lupin matter-of-factly. "And of course, many young witches and wizards have steered their career paths to becoming Aurors. Some have even dropped out of their schools to begin studying Defence against the Dark Arts."

"But only after the Daily Prophet had spoken," said Harry resentfully.

"Only after you confronted Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries," said Lupin encouragingly. "Were it not for that, I doubt the Minster would have come rushing to the Ministry in the middle of the night. Don't be too hard on yourself, Harry. Ah… here we are."

They had come to a dingy side street that was full of old, abandoned buildings. It was very quiet and not a soul was to be seen. Opposite to where they stood was a small, broken-down chapel; next to it there was a huge junk pile, full of old thrown away Muggle rubbish. Lupin and Moody immediately crossed over to it and began searching it quickly. Moody motioned Harry over to do the same.

"Er, Professor… what are we supposed to be doing?" asked Harry nervously.

"Looking for the Portkey," replied Moody, examining a rusty old can-opener. "Mundungus forgot to tell us what it looked like- twit- so he dropped it off here 5 minutes ago. He said it was some kind of household item. To check for it, just tap your wand against an object for 3 times and say: Quinmagini. If it glows a golden colour then that's our lucky charm." He sighed and threw the can-opener over his shoulder. "We're going to be here forever, Remus. Are you sure he didn't give us a single clue on what it looks like?"

"Only that it was used solely by Muggles."

"That should be so helpful to us," said Moody sarcastically.

"No, but it's very useful to Harry. He grew up with Muggles, remember," said Lupin. He held up a used condom. "What do you think, Harry? Household item?"

Harry looked up from the broken chess piece he was holding, and then looked down quickly again, trying not to grin. "Er, I wouldn't even bother testing that, Professor. Er, I really wouldn't," he added.

"What is it, Harry?" questioned Moody, scratching his head, very much bewildered.

Harry did not even want to imagine the reactions he'd be met with if he had to tell the two wizards the truth. So he decided to invent.

"Muggles use them to- keep their- their cigars fresh," he said brightly, and bent down to shove an old TV set out of the way.

"Hmm… I'll keep this for Arthur, then," said Lupin thoughtfully, and pocketed it. "Should come in useful."

"Nasty cough you've got there, Potter," said Moody.

After 15 more minutes, which seemed more like 2 hours, Harry managed to find the blessed Portkey. It was an old, (full) crumpled Tampax box. Now how am I going to explain this one? He thought miserably as he watched the glowing tampons.

"Oh, Harry, you've found it!" exclaimed Lupin, hurrying over together with Moody to where Harry stood. "Merlin's beard- what are those?"

Harry looked hopefully at Moody, searching for any signs of enlightenment. It was no use. Moody was just as puzzled as Lupin was.

"Er- Muggles stuff them up their- up their noses when they've got a very bad cold," he invented desperately. Hah, household object. I bet Mundungus did this on purpose.

"My word," said Lupin.

"Never heard that one before, certainly," said Moody. "Anyway, Remus, seeing as we've found the damn thing I'd better go and send an owl to Dumbledore." As soon as Gyp heard this he leapt up and started to follow Moody.

"Not you," said Moody, but Lupin said coaxingly, "Oh, do take him, Alastor, he needs all the exercise he can get."

Grumbling, but not wanting to cause a scene, Moody set off with the excited animal yapping at his heels.

"So, Harry," said Lupin, staring keenly at the boy, "do you feel quite ready for this?"

Harry swallowed. "Professor," he asked slowly, "have you ever been to De-allón?"

Lupin sighed. " I have never been myself," he said, "but I've seen those who've been there, and I can't say that I've always approved of the results. I've seen people who'd become far too attached to the place and who were unable to adjust to our world for a few days. Mind, they'd be cured- completely cured, and the after-effects I've just described wear off quite quickly.

"Others come back terrified- they say the magic performed there is dark, as they practice a type of witchcraft called Wicca. That is considered to be black magic in our world, Harry. However even these people would have been cured and they soon forget all about it."

"So… you're saying you don't really want me to go."

"It's not for me to decide. However, if Dumbledore really wants you to go, then I see no reason why you shouldn't. Especially if you do come back feeling much better. After all, that is the whole point, isn't it?" Lupin fidgeted a bit with the Portkey, and then held it up. "Portus," he said, and tapped the box with his wand.

Harry gathered his luggage all around him, all ready to leave, still digesting this new information. But before handing him the Portkey, Lupin hesitated.

"Harry," he said tentatively, "may I- may I offer you some advice?"

"Yeah…"

Lupin bent down so his face was in level with Harry's. "Don't get too close to them!" he hissed. "I've seen things happen to people that I don't want happening to you! Don't get too close to them or their magic!"

"Who are 'them'?" Harry wanted to know, but at that moment they both heard the sound of footsteps approaching.

"Goodbye, Harry!" whispered Lupin, and Harry felt the familiar jerk behind his navel as he grabbed the Portkey, and before he knew it he was hurtling forwards- into a land unknown.