Disclaimer: I... do... not... own... Harry... Potter...

THE BELGUM POTION

Chapter Seven: The Burrow

"I just don't understand it," Ron said, sitting down on a couch in the living room along with the twins, Fred and George. "Why can't we send him even one blasted letter?"

"Keep your voice down!" George said, looking towards the kitchen in fright that their mother would hear. "If mum heard you complaining about this again, she'd throw a fit."

"Oh, I don't care," Ron said, but lowered his voice anyway. "Harry is going to hate us if he doesn't hear from us. Those nasty muggles he lives with…" he made a face. "I don't understand why he can't spend some of the summer with us! There is only a couple more days until the start of school as it is. How is he supposed to get his supplies?"

"I'm sure Dumbledore knows what he's doing..." Fred said, but his words sounded doubtful as he spoke them, as if he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince Ron.

"Of course he knows what he's doing," said a voice from the top of the stairs. The three red-heads didn't even have to look toward the sound to know who was talking. Hermione Granger descended the stairs. "You three have to learn to trust Dumbledore. He's never steered us wrong before, has he?"

"And here's Miss-Know-It-All... back from studying?" Ron said.

"Of course not! I've gotten done studying hours before," Hermione said, thrusting out an envelope from her pocket. "If you want to know, I've just received a letter from Dumbledore."

"What?" Ron exclaimed, standing up from his chair. "What are you talking about? There's no owl post allowed... Dumbledore was the one who enforced the rule!"

Hermione took out the parchment from the envelope and showed them. "Well, this must have been rather important, if he were to break his own rules," Hermione said, keeping the letter away from Ron's grasps.

"Well, go on!" George said impatiently.

"Yeah, let us hear it, woman," Fred said.

Hermione stepped back from them, her lips pursed. "Okay... okay already. Give me room!" She then read out loud:


Be sure that you and Ms. Hermione Granger have all your school supplies and everything you will need for the school year with you by 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. A wizard will be arriving at your household to pick you up and bring you to school early at that precise time.

Mr. Weasley will fill you in on the rest.

Albus Dumbledore


Hermione ended it, smiling with satisfaction. She looked up to see Fred, George and Ron looking at her with confused expressions.

"...What?" she asked.

Ron snatched the note from her hands and read it to himself. "What? This makes no sense!" he exclaimed matter-of-factly.

Fred then took the note from Ron, reading it himself. "Yeah... why is he so short with us in this letters?"

"They're obviously coded, so if anyone were to come across it, it would be hard to figure out," Hermione said. "You heard what Dumbledore said to us at the beginning of the summer. There's a good chance that now You-Know-Who is back, our owl post won't be as safe as it used to be."

There was an uneasy silence.

"Well..." Ron said, breaking the quiet. "I don't know why he would want us to come to school so early... it makes no sense if you ask me." His eyes suddenly lit up. "Hey, Hermione! Do you think if we got this letter, Harry has one, too?!"

Hermione looked uneasy. "I'm not sure..." She shifted her feet. "This letter gives me an uneasy feeling…"

"What do you mean?" George asked.

"Why would he want us to come to school early if it wasn't serious?" Hermione said, almost in a whisper. "He wouldn't just tell us to come early if there wasn't a very good reason." she sighed. "Yes... I'm sure of it. Something must be wrong."

"Do you... do you think that it has to do with Harry?! Do you think that... that You-Know-Who..." Ron's voice trailed off. Fred and George's eyes grew wide.

Hermione closed her eyes and sighed. "I don't think we should jump to conclusions. I'm sure Mr. Weasley will tell us everything when he comes home from work... we should..." she opened her eyes, looking very serious at the three of them, " ...we should just wait patiently until then."

Ron sat back down onto the couch, more depressed now then he was before. Fred and George lingered in the room as they complained for a moment to each other, and then walked up the stairs, heading towards their room.

Hermione sat down on the couch besides Ron, sighing deeply. "Don't get so depressed, Ron. I'm sure everything is just fine," she said confidently, trying to sound positive. "The wards at the Dursley's couldn't have been breached that easily."

"Yeah..." He said, and then was silent.

And at that moment, the clock on Ron's wall chimed. Ron and Hermione looked towards it as the picture of his father moved from 'WORK' to 'HOME'. A minute later, the door in the kitchen sprang open, and Mr. Weasley walked hastily into the living room, a grave look on his face.

"Dad!" Ron exclaimed, extremely surprised to see his father home from work so soon, but greatly relieved all the same. He had thought the old clock had broken. "We've just got a letter from–"

"I know," he said, taking a seat in front of them. He looked terribly uneasy. "Ron... Hermione... I have some news."

Hermione and Ron moved towards the ends of their seats, their faces looking desperate. He didn't have to tell them... they already knew what this was about.

"It's about Harry..."

Sorry so short! I'll have the other chapter up sometime later tonight, I think, to make up for it.

Review, review, review!