Chapter 16: Twelve Grimmauld Place again

The afternoon was spent gathering clothes and other belongings which had spread across the whole house. Harry found some of his belongings in very puzzling places of which he was sure he hadn't left his things in. Examples were: on top of the cupboard that was in the corner of the bathroom, jammed between chests of drawers in Ron's room and behind curtains in the lounge. His weren't the worst though: he'd seen George retrieving some of his school books from within the depths of a bush in the garden and Ginny wringing out a soaked hat which, judging by the colour had been fished from within the pond. By the time dusk was falling though, the house was looking a lot less cramped and Harry's trunk was almost full. Arthur came and knocked on Ron's room door. "Harry, you in there?"

"Yea," Harry shoved another book down the edge of his trunk, stood up and opened the door.

"Are you nearly ready?" he asked pleasantly.

Harry nodded and Mr Weasley's eyes scanned the room. "Excellent well if you don't mind, do you think you could come along with me now to fetch these cars?"

"Ok. Do you know where we're going?" he asked as the two of them started walking down the stairs.

"I believe there is a rental place in the muggle settlement 10 minutes from here. It's only a village, you've seen if before – 4th year I think – but I'm sure I've seen one there."

They were in luck, because there was indeed a Car Rental Store where Arthur had suspected. Harry gave the address of 4 Privet Drive on the form and handed the keys over to Mr Weasley. He taught Arthur how to fill up the tank with petrol and explained how to use a towing rope. By the time they arrived back at the Burrow, trailing another car behind them, the sun had set and dinner was being eaten.

Harry lay wide awake that night, conversing with Ron in whispers. Neither could sleep, and judging by the occasional mutters and scuffles coming from the rooms around them, neither could Hermione and Ginny nor Fred and George.

"Wonder when we're going," Ron said in a hushed voice.

"Yea."

"Maybe they fell asleep and forgot?"

"No. Don't think so," whispered Harry.

"Yea."

Harry turned over and re-arranged his pillows. He didn't want to leave the Burrow. Least of all he didn't want to go back to 12 Grimmauld Place... ever – ever again. He looked dismally around Ron's bright orange room, which looked sort of brown in the dark, and vaguely wondered if he would be here this summer too.

"Harry?" Ron whispered leaning out of his bed and looking at Harry on the mattress on the floor.

"What?"

"You ok?"

"Yea. Yea I'm just a bit tired," he said quietly.

Ron lay back down and there was another long gap where all they could hear was the distant murmur of speech from across the corridor. "How long do they plan on waiting?" Ron said angrily.

"I don't know. We'll go soon." Harry snuggled down into the sleeping bag and continued admiring Ron's tiny room.

The voices from across the hall grew louder and were joined by two more. Soon they heard scuffling, a few coughs and some footsteps. The door to the room next to them opened and Harry could hear Mr and Mrs Weasley telling Ginny and Hermione to go downstairs. Their own door opened next and Molly walked into the room. "Boys? Are you awake?"

"Yep," they both said.

"Great. Well we're off soon, pop downstairs would you? Fred and George have the car keys."

Harry started pushing his blankets off and wormed his way out of his sleeping bag without unzipping it.

It wasn't long before all 6 of the Weasleys plus Hermione and Harry were shared out between the two cars and reversing out of the driveway. As they drove off down the hill Harry turned to look at the rickety building balanced on itself, sitting quietly in the moonlight getting smaller until it was merely a blob in the distance.

*

Harry titled his head back and stretched his toes out inside his shoes. They'd been in this car about 4 hours now and were still driving. Outside there were no signs of dawn and all that Harry saw when he looked out of the windows was his own reflection. Ginny had fallen asleep about an hour ago, once the conversation between Ron, Ginny, Bill, himself and Arthur had slowly dwindled into silence. Her head was rested on Harry's shoulder. He had a hard deal persuading himself not to stroke her – which would obviously look suspicious to all 3 of the Weasleys in the car. Mr Weasley sighed and shifted in his seat. It might have been more bearable if there was at least some scenery to watch fly past the windows. The other car, driven by Molly was behind them and occasionally she would flicker the indicators and Arthur would respond by flickering his too. Harry assumed this was either to comfort each other in the long boring hours, or some signal to say 'everything's alright here – how about your lot?'

Harry looked at Ron who was staring straight ahead at the passenger seat head-rest. Noticing Harry's gaze on him, Ron turned and smiled. Harry smiled and shrugged too. There wasn't must point in talking. Their earlier attempts had all ended with a few half-hearted 'yea's and then more silence. He should have thought to bring a game or some paper. Oh well, it couldn't be far now...

*

The two cars slowed to a stop by a sign that read 'Grimmauld Place'. Molly got out and held something up into the air. A second later an orb of light flew out of the nearest lamp and towards her hand. Harry recognised the instrument from the first time he'd visited this street. Once all the lamps were put out she climbed back into the car. Neither Molly nor Arthur used their headlights as they drove carefully between the rows of houses. They stopped outside 12 which looked oddly out-of-place next to 12 and 13. Mr Weasley turned around. "We're here!" he said brightly. "Wake Ginny up could you, Harry?" he grinned at his youngest son and then climbed out. Harry felt a blast of cold as the door let the night air slide into their vehicle.

"Ginny," he said lifting her head off his shoulder. "Wake up. We're here," he nudged her and she mumbled something. "Ginny, wake up," he said again shaking her gently. She blinked and asked blearily, "Are we here now?"

"Yep," Ron said. "Come on let's get inside the house pronto, I'm freezing."

When everyone was gathered on the doorstep Arthur handed Charlie and Bill a note each. They read them using light from the tips of their wands and then Harry saw their eyes look directly at the front door. Despite the early hours of the morning Harry still managed to realise that the notes were obviously from Dumbledore because the oldest Weasley brothers had never been inside the Headquarters. Bill and Charlie both destroyed their pieces of parchment and nodded at their Dad. Mr Weasley put his wand to the lock and whispered 'Alohomora'. The door swung open and the Weasley's started filing in. Harry saw Molly get the Put-Outer out of her pocket and click it as he walked inside.

The door shut behind them and everyone just stood there in the hall.  It was a nice change from the temperature outside, but standing there, Harry suddenly realised he'd rather be back in the car. He knew how big this hall was and the emptiness rang louder than Fred and George's experiments.

"Lumos," Bill said. A tiny ball of light appeared at the end of his wand sending rays right to every corner of the room. Everyone copied.

"Alright well you all know your way around. I'm sure you can find the bedrooms," Arthur said.

A few people nodded mutely and the crowd began shuffling towards the stairs.

It was so strange being in this house. His knees felt weak and everything seemed strangely surreal. It could have had something to do with the fact he'd been awake staring at blackness for the whole night – but Harry thought otherwise. He knew instantly that he wasn't going to find staying in this house comfortable. He ran his hands along the banister and he walked solemnly up the staircase. Hermione fell into step beside him.

"Harry?" she said quietly.

He looked at her.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

For 3 o clock in the morning she was pretty observant. "Yea, why?" Harry answered, his voice gruff.

"I'm so sorry you had to come here," she said earnestly.  "But if Dumbledore thinks it's for the best ..." Hermione trailed off and paused before staring a new sentence. "You'll be ok," she said – although she didn't sound as certain as she normally did when she told him that.

*

Harry awoke at noon that day and it took him a second or two to figure out where he was. He yawned and pushed the covers off him. There were mumbling noises coming from downstairs. He must have been the last to wake up then, Harry thought. He rubbed his eyes and shook his head. The sun was glaring at him, particularly strong for a winter's day.  Hedwig hooted from the other side of the room and Harry looked up to see her perched on the knob of a chest of drawers. She cocked her head to one side and hooted again. Sighing, Harry got out of bed and looked around the room, discovering that someone had brought his trunk up for him. Harry unlocked it and carried a small plastic box over to his pet owl. He scattered the seeds on the wooden surface and she immediately started pecking. Harry put the lid back on and placed the tub on a shelf next to him.

He didn't know what he wanted to do. He didn't want to go downstairs, really – but staying in this room would be pretty boring. Then, with a flutter of wings Hedwig swooped up and landed on his head. Harry had tried to duck but she knew him too well. He lifted his hand up to stroke her and she rubbed her head against his hands. Harry's hand paused in mid-air. She hooted softly and continued massaging him with her beautiful, soft feathers. He smiled. Hedwig always knew when he was upset and it was so nice to have her care for him. She pecked his finger softly and took off again. "Thanks, Hedwig,' Harry whispered. "I love you too." She turned away from her food and stared at Harry's bright green eyes with her own large yellow ones. She didn't have to say anything, Harry knew what she meant. She jerked her head away and snapped up another seed.

He stretched his arms into the air and decided he might as well go down and see everyone. It sounded like they were having lunch anyway.

*

"Alastor and Podmore are working with Dumbledore to try and get the damn Ministry to help with Azkaban. Fudge wants nothing to do with it. Says it's beyond our reach and Azkaban is one thing we'll have to accept we're not getting back. Idiot," Mundungus spat.

Snape sighed and stared at his hot chocolate.

"And we don't have any advances on the Giants. Hagrid failed his mission as you know and Madame Maxime won't tell us anything," said Tonks.

Several members from the Order were sitting around in a small room behind the kitchen, discussing their progressions. Molly was cosy in a soft easy chair she had brought in and her hands were resting on her knees. Arthur was sitting straight in a wooden backed chair, his face creased with concentration. Mundungus, who was slouched in a wicket chair looked like he'd much rather be somewhere else. The brightest looking of all of them, was Tonks, but still she wasn't her usual bubbly self.  Professor Lupin had his hands tucked his pockets and his eyes were closed. His fraying robes matched the peeling cement of the brick wall he was leaning on. Emmeline Vance was rested in a rocking chair, appearing more relaxed than the others but still immensely concentrated, despite the fact that she was twirling her stunning blonde hair around her index finger. The last person was Professor Snape, whose head was rested in his right hand. He was still staring at his hot chocolate, which he held in his other arm and swirled around every now and then.

Molly sighed, "So do we have any other leads?" she asked doubtfully.

Snape put his mug down. "Yes, actually. Dumbledore and I were talking the other day. He came up with an ingenious idea which we could use to track the whereabouts of certain Death Eaters. We could use it to watch the Ministry, Hogwarts, Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley. We'd be able to see if anyone was planning to attack or trying to break into somewhere. It would be excellent if we could get it to work. The idea was to create a – a map." Lupin's eyes suddenly snapped opened and Snape smirked. "Yes, Remus. We want you to make a map like the one you used to use to sneak around Hogwarts."

Lupin sighed and looked around at everyone. He shook his head.

"What?" Snape snapped. "What do you mean 'no'?"

"I would need James and Sirius," he said slowly.

Molly looked at him sympathetically.

"Surely you can remember how you did it? It would help our side more than you could think-"

"I'm aware how useful it would be, Severus," Lupin interrupted. "But the fact remains that I cannot make it without all the Marauders. Except perhaps Pettigrew."

Snape rolled his eyes and flicked his greasy hair out of his way, "Dumbledore thought that might be the case. But he wants you to try nonetheless."

Remus rubbed his forehead with his hands and closed his eyes again. Snape knew the conversation was over and faced the others.

"Have you got any information to share with us from last night's gathering?" Emmeline asked, letting go of her hair as it sprung into a coil by her cheek.

Snape shook his head, "Not much, he was simply checking up on us all," he replied.

Emmeline nodded.

"And he's got a reward scheme going now. The Death Eater who presents him with the most Aurors a month gets to personally torture their victims in Azkaban," he said bitterly.

Molly gasped.

Mundungus coughed and clenched his hands. "I wish that ruddy Minister would stop whimpering and get on with helping. Is there nothing you can do Arthur?"

"You know what he thinks of me," Mr Weasley replied shortly.

"Harry!" Molly exclaimed suddenly.

"What?" Dung grunted. "The Potter boy? What about him?"

Molly ignored him and stood up. "Good afternoon, dear!" she smiled. Tonks, Snape and Dung all turned around in their seats to see Harry standing at the doorway.

"Hello Mrs Weasley," he smiled as she hugged him.

"How did you sleep?" she asked happily.

Harry didn't have a chance to reply though, as Severus suddenly said "How much have you heard?"

"Nothing," Harry answered instantly.

"Don't lie, tell us when you got here," Mundungus said.

"You're not in trouble, Harry," said Lupin, who was looking at him now, "We just want to know."

Molly let go of him and he said, "When Dung asked if Mr Weasley could do something to make Fudge stop – whimpering."

Snape looked at Harry with narrowed eyes and said harshly, "Next time make your presence known would you?"

Harry nodded.

"Well would you like some lunch?" Molly asked merrily, after shooting Severus a warning look.

Harry shook his head. "Nah I'm not hungry. Where's Ron and Hermione?" he asked.

"I don't know. Upstairs somewhere. Come on, dear," she said as she lead him out of the room with her and shut the door.