Chapter 7 - At The Burrow
I knew I had some time - a day or two, perhaps - to spend at home, preparing for my escape. He suspected nothing so far; he would only know something was wrong as soon as he sent me a note inviting me to the house on the cliff again. When that happened and I disobeyed him, he'd start searching for me.
I was too shaken to leave immediately - anyway, I had no idea where to go. The first thing I did was to prepare a very strong Calming Draught and try and get a few hours of sleep while I can. It helped - after I woke up I was able to think much more clearly.
I realised I was going to need money, and I wouldn't be able to visit Gringotts bank so freely after I disappear. So I Apparated to London, visited the bank and took as many Galleons as I could carry from the family vault. I wondered if the Dark Lord would find out from the goblins that I'd done this. I was afraid that he would, but now I think he probably never did - goblins are much more powerful that most humans are aware of, and I doubt he has any control over them.
As I was leaving the bank I saw an apothecary on the opposite side of Diagon Alley and it gave me an idea. I went inside and bought all the necessary ingredients to brew a hair-dying potion. Of course the Dark Lord would still recognise me with my hair colour changed - it would be absurd to believe dyeing would help me escape him. But my long blonde hair was my most striking feature and I thought it would be a good idea to change it if I wanted a new identity.
I returned home and spent the next few hours brewing the potion and packing some of my belongings, still feeling rather calm and rational. When the potion was finished I took a pair of scissors to cut my hair of first and stood in the front of the bathroom mirror. When I looked at my reflection I saw with disgust that I was still wearing the pendant with the sleeping baby Hercules my so-called lover had given me.
I tore it off my neck and was about to throw it into the toilet when I saw something that terrified me.
The eyes of baby Hercules were now open and looking at me.
I screamed and dropped the pendant. For a moment I thought this was His way of spying on me.
But almost immediately I realised that spying wasn't the purpose of the pendant. I remembered how he would always look at it every time he saw me. He was expecting it to change. I looked at the face of the baby and knew what this change meant.
I was pregnant.
---
When Harry finally stepped out of the fireplace in the Weasleys' kitchen, Molly Weasley almost smothered him with a hug. This embarrassed Harry a bit, but at the same time he was pleased. For a moment Ginny looked as if she was going to hug him too, but she restrained herself and just smiled and said "Hi, Harry." Ron greeted him too with a happy grin and told him he'd been worried for him. Harry remembered with embarrassment that he hadn't answered any of Ron or Hermione's letters. That had made sense somehow when he was at the house at Privet Drive, alone and in a gloomy mood, but now it just seemed unkind.
"No, I'm alright. It's just..." He trailed off, not sure what to say, but Ron insist on an answer anyway. Arthur Weasley came out through the fireplace a moment after him, and Molly insisted that they should all have supper immediately because Arthur and Harry must be starving. They weren't exactly starving, of course, but Harry was feeling hungry. Bill joined them in a few moments - he was spending as much time as possible at the Burrow for security reasons, he explained - and they were all soon seated around the table, enjoying the roast and the vegetables, talking and laughing. Harry was seated between Ron and Ginny, who were both trying to talk to him at once. Their mother kept filling his plate with food, as if he'd really been starving before he came to visit them.
"Hermione is coming here too," Ron said to Harry. "We invited her - we thought it would be nice for all of us to be here together."
"That's great!" Harry said. "When is she coming?"
"Tomorrow morning," Ron said. Ginny smiled mischievously and said, pretending to whisper into Harry's ear but actually speaking loud enough for Ron to hear:
"Ron's been reading Hogwarts, a History to impress Hermione. He's trying to be intellectual."
Ron's face turned read and he mumbled something about the book being actually very interesting. Harry grinned and concentrated on his supper.
"Why are some of these vegetables shaped like animals?" he asked.
"Oh, it was Ron and Ginny being silly," Mrs Weasley said.
"Come on, Mum, they are works of art. Look at this lovely giraffe with seven legs that Ginny made!" Ron said, shooting a vindictive glance at Ginny.
Harry felt that he could stay there forever, watching the fire in the fireplace that gave the whole room an orange glow and listening to Ron and Ginny teasing each other.
At one point he asked about the protection spells Mr Weasley had mentioned at the Ministry, and Bill explained about them: the Order of the Phoenix had chosen several locations throughout Britain that were important for their work and protected them by a combination of many different spells. The Burrow, as the home of four members of the Order, was one of those locations. Protective spells now ensured that it was almost impossible to find and very difficult for intruders to enter - certainly impossible to enter in secret.
Soon after they finished eating Tonks' head appeared in the fireplace, her orange hair ruffled. She called to tell Harry she'd taken Buckbeak to Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank's sanctuary for magical creatures.
"How did you take him there? Did you ride him?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I did, and I'm not sure I want to ride a hippogriff again," Tonks said. "He's a lovely animal, but brooms are much easier and can't bite your head off."
"Do I have to pay Professor Grubbly-Plank for taking him?"
"Oh, no, she doesn't expect you to. She does this because she loves magical creatures. You can donate to her sanctuary if you want to."
Harry made a mental note to make a donation the next time he took money from his vault.
"This is yours now, Harry," Tonks said and her arm reached out of the fireplace to hand him a large iron key.
"The key to the house at Grimmauld Place?" Harry asked. It felt heavy in his hand, and it was covered with sinister-looking ornaments such as coiled snakes.
"Yes. The Order doesn't need it anymore. The hippogriff's been taken care of, and we temporarily shrank the Dark magical objects and transferred them to a safe at the new headquarters. Oh, and guess who volunteered to go through them and decide what could be used?" Tonks looked at Arthur and Molly with an ironic smile.
"Oh, don't tell me," Arthur said. "It was Mundungus, wasn't it?"
Tonks nodded. Harry knew that Mundungus Fletcher was the last person in the Order that should be trusted with a collection of Dark objects. He would undoubtedly try to steal them and sell them somewhere.
Tonks continued, smiling mischievously:
"Dumbledore told him sure, he could go through them, but it was too much work for just one person. So someone else had to help him, and Dumbledore suggested you, Molly."
Everyone laughed, and Bill said: "Brilliant! If anyone can scare old Dung, it's Mum."
After Tonks left them, Ron asked Harry:
"So you own the house at Grimmauld Place now?"
Harry nodded. "I don't really want it, though," he said. He was a bit scared that, now that he became even richer, Ron might feel jealous once again like he did in their fourth year. But Ron didn't seem to mind; in fact, he grinned and said: "That's cool."
There was another conversation through the Floo Network that evening: Mr Weasley remembered that Moody had asked him to talk to Theodosius Lovegood about his records on unexplained mysteries.
"I have no duties at the Ministry tomorrow morning, so I'll ask him if I can drop by at his home then. The Lovegoods don't want unannounced guests," he said turning to Harry, "so if I don't ask him first I'll just get lost in the woods."
"Are they hiding from Voldemort?" Harry asked. Mr Weasley flinched when he heard the name.
"Not only from him, I believe. They used to be scared of the Ministry trying to destroy The Quibbler. But Theodosius is a very decent chap and he does trust me, so I'm sure he won't mind me paying him a visit."
Mr Weasley took a handful of Floo Powder, threw it into the fireplace and said in a clear voice: "Mr Lovegood, The Orient Express, Ottery St Catchpole!"
"The Orient Express?" Harry repeated with surprise. "Is that the name of their house?"
"It's not just a name," Ginny said. "They really live in an old wagon of the Wizard Orient Express. Luna took me there to see it once."
"But... How come they live in an old train wagon?"
"Well, one reason is that they don't have much money," Ginny said. "But Luna told me that it's also so that they move away quickly if there's a need. It's adapted as a house, but it can still move around if they ever want it to."
Mr Lovegood's head had appeared in the green flames in the fireplace. Harry thought he looked nothing like his daughter. His hair was long, dark and wavy, tied into a ponytail. Only the slightly dreamy expression in his eyes as he looked around at all the people present reminded Harry of Luna.
Arthur Weasley explained what Moody had asked him to do. Luna's father seemed a little bit worried, but he said:
"All right, Weasley. I'm not too happy about Ministry people going through my papers, but I understand the situation very well. I'll do what I can to help. You can come over tomorrow and go through my archives, and take anything you find useful with you."
"Thanks, Lovegood. I'll be there tomorrow morning then," said Mr Weasley.
Luna's father was about to leave, but Ginny asked him: "Oh, Mr Lovegood, could I come too? I'd like to see Luna again. And could Harry and Ron and Hermione come with me?"
Mr Lovegood smiled. "Luna told me about all of you. I know she'll be glad to see you. Yes, you are all invited." He wished them good night and his head disappeared from the fireplace.
---
The protective magic surrounding the Burrow was very strong. With the help of the Order, the Weasleys had placed barriers on all known entrances to their house and garden, including the fireplace. They had made it almost impossible for an enemy to enter their home.
However, one of the Death Eaters had spent twelve years at their home and knew about secret entrances even the Weasleys themselves didn't know about. The garden gnomes had left tunnels in the garden soil. The garden was easy for a rat to enter.
He was sleeping now, curled in the hollow of a tree. He didn't see a way to enter the house itself, but sooner or later the Weasleys and their guest would have to come out. Peter Pettigrew had time enough to wait.