The Fifth House
Disclaimer: Do I really need to remind all of you that I don't own Harry Potter? J. K. Rowling does. As if you didn't know. It's really pointless, no one reads these anyway. Except me. Every fanfic that I read, I read the whole thing, disclaimer, author notes; shout out, recommendations, and of course the story. If you are reading this, go you!
Author's Note: I just updated yesterday, but I feel like writing another chapter. This chapter is going to be… at the Burrow! And,… at Mr. Weasley's office! Yay!
You know the drill. The three R's people! It does have a nice ring to it.
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Rejoice.
Curtains Up!
Chapter Seven
"What should we do, Harry?" Hermione said. "We can't seem to calm it down!" She looked like she was panicking.
Harry didn't find it all that panic worthy. "Just let it fly around the room, it'll calm down eventually. Then we can get the scroll from it."
Hermione looked very surprised. "I didn't even see the scroll! It must be another letter from P.1 Rebirth!"
Ron looked exhausted. "Of course I noticed the scroll, it's unrolling a little, and I must have seven paper cuts by now!" He was trying to hold the owl for a few more seconds.
Ron finally gave up and let it loose. He grimaced and turned his hands over several times.
Harry saw that Ron's hands were very red, and were covered with thin cuts and scratches. "You really should have let it go sooner," he said to his friend.
"I didn't really want to lose to an owl. I have a reputation to keep up!"
Hermione was flipping through a thick hardbound book, which was really no surprise. Harry thought it must have a cure for scratches.
"Here, Ron," she said, pointing to a spell. "Go downstairs with this book, and have your mum fix you up with this spell."
Ron didn't want to miss out on the action just as much as he didn't want to be bossed around by Hermione. But his hands hurt so much there seemed that there was no alternative. He balanced the book on the insides of his arms and left the room. Down the hall, you could hear him let out a yelp as the book fell on his foot.
Harry brought his eyes back to the owl. It was lying on Ron's bed; breathing so heavily that the whole bed shook.
Harry slowly unwound the scroll from the owl's leg. It was most difficult to do; it was wound around one leg, but a second piece of parchment was clamped in its talons.
Finally, Harry had both pieces. He read the letter out loud in a whisper so that Hermione could hear.
Dear Harry,
Today is August the 25th. In one week, you return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In one week, you will be shaken by sudden change. In one month, your team will begin practicing for the upcoming season. In one month, you may wonder, "What season?" Things are changing, Harry Potter, and things are changing fast. Ordinary as it may seem now, the queerness is about to arrive. If you have seen change that seemed it would never occur, perhaps in character of people you know or even yourself, you haven't seen anything yet. Beware the two sides, avoid favoring one, thought it may seem evident to do so. You need to be careful of much more than your enemies now.
Even if all of your enemies came together, they would never seem noticeable next to Evil that has yet to pass. Evil won't pass, truly, it will arrive and stay until it is satisfied. In one year, you may think your life as a sixth year will begin.
In one year, your life as anything may not exist.
Sincerely,
P.1 Rebirth
"Someone's really got it in for you," Hermione said. Maybe she tried to be nonchalant about saying it, but there was a look of terror on her face.
"Tell me about it," Harry answered.
Just then, Ron ran into the room. "What did I miss? Did I miss anything?"
Hermione said, "Nothing too important, here, read this," she said handing the letter to him. Harry and Hermione stared at him while he read it.
Ron looked back at them after he'd finished. "Sure it was nothing important, it's just about something out to get Harry again," Ron said sarcastically.
"But you didn't miss everything, there's still another piece of parchment to go," Harry reminded him.
Ron looked slightly happier. "Read it then, go on."
Harry unrolled the parchment and saw that it consisted of only one statement, written in large sloppy handwriting in rich red ink that was not the same writing that P.1 Rebirth used. He, Ron and Hermione all read it and gasped.
Beware, Harry Potter, tomorrow it begins.
Hermione looked more frightened than Harry had ever seen her. She seemed unable to open her mouth. She touched the lettering on the parchment and the ink rubbed off onto her hand. She only said one thing.
"Harry, it's written in blood!"
* * * *
Harry, Ron and Hermione couldn't sleep that night.
There was still the terrible storm outside, and the tree branches scratching the windows and the ghoul clanging on the pipes didn't help much, either.
The three had decided to all stay in Ron's room that night, they thought it might be safer that way.
Eventually, Harry knew that Ron and Hermione had fallen asleep. He knew because Ron snored and Hermione talked. He never knew that Hermione talked in her sleep, she didn't seem the type that would.
Then again, she was rambling about potions homework.
Thunder clapped outside, and Harry saw a lightening bolt part the dark sky. His hand came to his forehead, where his scar felt smooth and cold.
He realized how ridiculous it was that he was awake at this hour, so he turned over and closed his eyes.
Harry Potter is smart, but he apparently did not remember the last time he did this.
He heard something. It was quiet, barely audible. It faded into soft whispers. He could almost make out what they were saying. He stopped breathing, just so that he could hear them better. It seemed as though they were growing louder, and he had a funny feeling his not breathing didn't help much. He let out a breath, and the whispers stopped. This was getting stupid; he got out of bed and walked to the window. He looked down at the Weasley's front lawn and the street not far beyond it.
There were four children, and they were standing on the sidewalk, they had to be the same ones he saw from Privet Drive, because one of them had a large dog with them. Harry realized that they weren't really children; they actually looked about his age. One of the girls, Harry recognized her from last time, looked up at Harry. She had also been the first to look at him last time. The others saw where she was looking and also looked toward Harry. Harry took this chance to look each of them in the eyes, though he couldn't really see their eyes. There were two girls and two guys. That was all he could tell through the night darkness. There were five of them, including Harry; five blank stares. Finally one of the girls looked at one of her friends and started whispering. The two guys stopped staring and joined the conversation. It was now just one girl and Harry left in this staring game. Then she did something Harry didn't expect.
She smiled.
It wasn't just the fact that she smiled at him, but that even through the darkness of night Harry could tell it was genuine. He smiled back.
Eventually, she looked at her friends said something, and they started to continue down the street. The girl turned one last time, as if she knew Harry would still be staring, and smiled a final time.
That was one of the last times Harry saw the four of them together.
* * * *
Harry awoke the next morning to several yells from outside. He looked around; apparently Ron and Hermione had just woken up, too.
Hermione looked very annoyed and tired. "Where, is it coming from?"
Ron, who was too tired to talk, pointed to the window.
The three of them got up and walked over. There were two things outside that could have caused the yelling. The first was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, she was apparently yelling at her husband because he had to miss another day at home to go to the ministry. Ron explained that she had to go shopping 'for one thing or another' today, and couldn't be home to supervise them. The other thing that could cause the yelling was the group of people that were playing street hockey.
Harry knew that this was a neighborhood where there were very few muggles, and hockey was not a wizard sport. He was very confused. So was Ron, he had no idea what they were doing with 'those shoes with wheels, trying to hit a flat, black snitch into weird goals with weird broomsticks'. Hermione, with extreme patience which was needed for Ron's many questions {But what's up with the warped broomsticks?}, explained it to him. It took Harry ten minutes of watching them play too realize that they were the fours kids from last night. His thoughts were interrupted by Mr. Weasley yelling up to them, "Ron, Harry, Hermione! You lot are coming with me to work today! Go wake up Ginny, too, will you?"
Rom mumbled something under his breath. Harry wasn't sure what he had said, but he was almost positive it wasn't very nice. He, Ron, and Hermione got dressed quickly, woke Ginny, waited for her to get ready, ate a very quick breakfast, and went out onto the Weasley's front lawn. The four teenagers were still playing hockey. They all smiled and waved at Ron, Harry, and Hermione. Ron looked curiously at them and said hi. Harry smiled at all of them. Hermione, who was always extremely polite, went all out.
"Hello, how are you all today?" she started. The four teenagers all gave her very different reactions. One raised an eyebrow up past his bangs. One girl smiled and nodded. The other boy half waved, but looked very confused. The last girl, the one who smiled at Harry the night before, came up to the three of them.
"Hi. We're all fine, thanks for asking. How are you?" she asked very politely.
Hermione was very pleased. "We're all fine, too. I'm Hermione Granger by the way, who are you?"
"Kylie D'Alessandro, and this is Jade Iverson, Tomas Lopez, and Max Brennan." She pointed to three people that all looked foreign. The girl looked like she might be Chinese, a boy that looked Mexican, and one other guy who also looked Hispanic. Kylie saw that Harry, Ron, and Hermione noticed this, and decided to speak up. " All of us are from different countries, originally. I, for example, was born in England, but my father left, so my mom and I moved to the U.S."
"I'm from Mexico, but I still live there," said Tomas.
"Are you from Mexico, too?" Ron asked Max.
"No," Max answered. "A lot of people think that, but I'm actually from Argentina."
Ron's face went red as his hair. "Oh, sorry." Max smiled.
"I am from China, but I actually live in Canada," added Jade.
Hermione loved meeting new people, and was eager to know more about them. "So how did you all meet? I mean, you all live so far apart."
Kylie smiled at her. "The four of us go to The International School of Magic in Los Angeles," she explained. Harry's thoughts were answered, they weren't muggles after all.
"Oh, that must be so great! Meeting people from all over the world!" Hermione exclaimed.
By now Tomas, Jade, and Max had all gone back to their game.
"It really is, but my mom and I decided to move back to England, and she wants me to go to a more local school," Kylie answered.
"Really? Where are you going to attend?" Hermione asked her. Harry could tell what Hermione wanted her to say.
"Oh, I'm going to Hogwarts," Kylie answered.
"That's where we go! Oh, you must think I'm so rude for not introducing you to my friends! This is Ron Weasley and Harry Potter," Haermione said very quickly.
"It's not rude at all. Pleasure to meet you," Kylie said. Then she looked a little uncomfortable. "Since we'll be going to the same school, I should probably tell you I don't talk this polite on normal terms. My other, she's always pressured me to use such proper manners."
Harry finally decided to speak. "Well, Hermione isn't always this talkative,. Unless she's going on about a book." Hermione went pink.
Kylie smiled even more. "Oh, you like reading? I love it!" she told Hermione.
Hermione glanced at Harry, her face very satisfied. "Yes, I absolutely love reading."
Just then Mr. Weasley interrupted. "Time to go all of you!" It seemed that Ginny was finally ready.
"Well, see you at school!" Hermione said to Kylie.
Kylie nodded and went back to her hockey game.
The group going to the ministry office traveled by floo powder again.
When it was Harry's turn, he threw the powder into the flames and walked into the fire while saying, "Ministry of Magic!"
He kept his arms close to him, tilted his head forward, and stuck his legs together as he swirled through the sea of firplaces.
* * * *
Harry had to snap his arms forward very quickly to keep himself from falling onto a marble floor that was exceptionally cold. He stood up, and wiped some dust of his clothes. He looked at the new surroundings.
He was in a very grand hall. Practically everything was marble, the columns, the floor, the walls, the numerous staircases. There were colored busts of men and women Harry guessed must have been past ministers of magic. The only difference between these and regular busts was that they were moving their heads, and actually talking to people. There were also several large moving portraits of people. They each had a gold-plaited sign beneath it that said the name of the person. Ron told Harry that they were great witches and wizards. There were about ten doors on each side of the hall. Mr. Weasley told them that they were each of the offices. His was in the very far right corner near the back.
It was very nice, for a door. There was a silver sign that said "Misuse of Muggle Artifacts", and beneath it another silver sign that read two names: Arthur Weasley and one other name that had been scratched off. Harry looked at Ron, remembering their conversation. Ron looked like he was in pain just looking at the sign. He finally closed his eyes and looked away.
"Oh Dad, can we go in? Can I sit in your special chair please?" asked Ginny excitedly.
Harry expected the office to be somewhat important looking.
It was far from it.
It was very messy, for one thing. Papers were floating around all over the place. There were many pens and manila folders spread across a rather small desk. There was a small wastebasket in the far corner that was overflowing with crumpled papers. The 'special chair' Ginny was talking about might have been nice looking once, but it was worn leather that was torn in several places. Harry did notice, however, then instead of being on four legs, it was levitating.
Mr. Weasley looked slightly red in the face. "Well, I've had a lot of paperwork lately. It usually isn't this messy. Maybe I should give you a tour of the building first though, so I can clean it up later. It's rather shameful for me to look at."
"Yes, I think I'd be ashamed, too, if my office looked like that," said a cold voice from outside of the office.
"Lucius, how nice to see you," Mr. Weasley said without turning around, a grimace on his face.
"And how, pleasant, to see you," Malfoy's father continued. It was then Harry noticed that Draco Malfoy was there, also. "I see you've brought along you're whole clan today. Where is the rest of your family? Dear me, are they out working so that you'll have enough money to live in your house? And you have a large family, too, Arthur."
Mr. Weasley looked about to explode. "Please leave, Lucius, I have work to do."
"Work? Are you showing your children, and oh my, other people's children how to make more money for you? I knew you could sink low, Arthur, but I didn't think this low," Lucius said. He continued.
"Me, I'm just showing Draco here what he'll get to do once he graduate's Hogwarts. He'll have a very good job, of course, unlike some graduates of that school," said Mr. Malfoy, making every word sting. "I really must go now. It was, nice, having this little chat with you." Draco smirked at Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny as the two walked away.
Mr. Weasley was trying to calm himself down. "Someday, I'll find something to get him for. Just you wait."
"Go Dad!" said Ron appreciatively.
"Thank you, Ron. I'm going to go wash my face so I can finish giving you the tour when I'm in a better mood. Wait here, I'll be back in a few minutes."
The four went back into the office, where they discussed that when they got back to Hogwarts, they'd have to do something really bad to Draco Malfoy.
It was becoming a really elaborate conversation, even Ginny was coming up with ideas.
Then something caught Harry's eye. It was a piece of paper, and there was red script on it. He showed it to Ron and Hermione, who froze. Ginny looked very confused.
"What? What is it?" she asked.
Harry unfolded the paper so that they could see the full statement. Hermione touched the writing, and it was indeed wet blood. Harry could not explain how it was still wet. He read the statement, and Hermione and Ron did, too. Then, they just looked at each other. It read:
At sunset tonight, darkness won't be the only thing that falls.
Curtains Close!
Author's Note: Well, that was eventful!
Words of Wisdom: That excuse for talking on the phone for "five more minutes", your parents always know it will be longer than that.
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~Starry