Chapter 6: Familiar Faces
Dusk had swept gracefully across the sky by the time Harry and his escort finally began their descent. Landing gently on a stretch of soft grass, Harry looked ahead to a quiet little village. Tiny lights were beginning to flicker on in many of the houses, as the village was silhouetted against the setting sun.
Lupin made his way over to Harry, following his gaze to the glowing horizon.
"A red sun," he murmured. "Tomorrow will be a nice day." He continued to watch the sunset with a peaceful expression.
"Where are we?" Harry asked rather bluntly, suddenly feeling very annoyed at the whole situation. They had flown nearly all day, but it had been far too brief in Harry's opinion. A great weight seemed to have settled on him the moment he'd reached the ground, and Harry's frustrated mood had returned as well.
"We're near headquarters." Lupin answered without looking at Harry.
"Obviously!" Harry snapped, but Lupin seemed not to notice the anger in his voice. Harry sighed as he tried to calm down. It wasn't Lupin's fault that he had to be kept in the dark. And it wasn't Dumbledore's fault either. It was his own fault.
A moment later, Harry was startled by the sound of Snape clearing his throat. He came striding towards them with Mundungus strolling a ways behind him. Snape gave Harry a nasty look as he stepped up to Lupin.
"Potter!" he snarled, "If you don't mind, I'd like to speak privately with Remus." Harry was quite happy to jog back to Mundungus, if only to put some distance between Snape and himself. Hedwig was perched uncertainly on Mundungus' shoulder, and she quickly moved to Harry's shoulder as he came up.
"Have a good ride, Harry?" Mundungus asked pleasantly. Harry nodded quietly at Mundungus while watching Snape and Lupin out of the corner of his eye. Mundungus was not deterred and chatted merrily away to Harry's inattentive ear. "I always like a good fly, eh? Though I wouldn't mind if my broom were a bit more comfortable.I wonder what the flying carpet market is like 'round now.?" He rambled on, not noticing Harry's lack of interest.
They were slowly getting closer to the other two, and Harry was trying to catch a snatch of their whispered conversation. He thought he heard Lupin give a surprised 'Why not?' and he was certain that he caught Snape's impatient reply.
"He doesn't need it! I will discuss it with Dumbledore later, so let's jus--" Snape stopped abruptly as Harry and Mundungus reached them. "Let's go!" he growled. Lupin had a surprised look on his face, but beckoned to Harry as he turned to follow Snape.
As the three made their way down to the cluster of small houses, Harry's feeling of dread grew. At last, Lupin stopped in front of a dilapidated length of fence and turned to Harry. "Here," he said, "Read this." With a meaningful look at Snape, he handed Harry a slip of paper covered with Dumbledore's unmistakable scrawl.
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at The Cottage in Knoll's Village.
Harry handed the slip back to Remus and turned expectantly to the fence. He wasn't disappointed. Before his eyes, the fence grew apart and a path appeared, leading up to a small, white cottage. The four of them marched silently up to the door of the cottage and Snape knocked impatiently. Immediately, a scuffle could be heard on the other side.
"Harry!" Mrs. Weasley practically attacked him, causing Hedwig to flutter away quickly. "Oh, how are you, dear? How was the trip here? You're probably starved." She broke off as she inspected Harry carefully at arms length.
"Hi, Mrs. Weasley," Harry mumbled. He couldn't help but notice the alarmed look she wore, though she was trying to act cheerful. He looked away hastily as her eyes became teary. The inside of the cottage was truly a shock. Though from the outside it was small and ordinary, the interior was completely different. He felt as if he'd just walked into a small mansion. The floors of the entryway were all covered in gleaming mahogany which reflected the light of a large chandelier perfectly. Behind Mrs. Weasley, a wide staircase curled gradually up to a second and even a third floor, and beneath it the hall opened into a large bright room. To either side Harry saw spaces furnished with lush carpets and large soft couches.
Mrs. Weasley finally let go of Harry and turned to Lupin and the others.
"So, Remus, it seems everything went well? Severus, will you stay for dinner? Mundungus?" She shuffled them away from the door and started heading to the back of the house. She made to take Harry's arm, but someone beat her to it and he found himself being whirled around roughly.
"Harry! You've come!" Ron stood in front of him, beaming from ear to ear. Ron's sister Ginny stood nearby, looking equally pleased.
"Hi, Ron, Ginny. How are you?" Harry was trying to sound happy. He was struggling with the urge to run right out the door. He felt panicky, as if any moment something terrible might happen to ruin the happiness in the room. Harry nearly jumped out of his skin as he was grabbed from behind again, but he was relieved to realize that it was only, Hermione.
"Sorry, Harry!" she said hastily, as she pulled him into a tight hug. "Didn't mean to sneak up on you, but, oh! It's wonderful to see you! Ah, I think Ron's mum has dinner ready.." Hermione looked up as Mrs. Weasley made another attempt to usher them all down the hall.
Hermione was certainly right. They walked into the large, open room beyond the stairs and looked with awe at a long table, heaped with trays and dishes or all sorts of food. Before Harry could speak, he was pushed into the nearest empty chair and a plate was set in front of him. Hermione and Ron sat on either side of him, piling food onto their plates. The food smelled delicious, but he felt almost too nervous to eat. However, he did his best to eat it, if only to avoid a scolding from Ron's worried mother. Almost immediately, they were joined by several more familiar faces. They all greeted Harry enthusiastically before taking a seat and digging in. Mr. Weasley slipped into the seat across from Harry, and two of Ron's brothers, Bill and Charlie, sat to one side. Tonks winked and said hello as she seated herself directly across from Snape, who looked rather displeased about the whole thing. Remus was talking quietly to a couple of witches, who Harry recognized as members of the Order. Harry sat quietly, as Ron chattered casually about Quidditch, and Hermione, who obviously didn't approve of the topic, huffed loudly in annoyance. Harry was having trouble paying attention to either of them, as he felt the need to look over his shoulder every few bites.
Suddenly, Harry noticed that Ron had stopped talking and was watching him. He turned back to his plate and tried to think of something to say.
"So.er.whose place is this?" He realized he had no idea where he was. If Lupin wouldn't tell him, perhaps Ron and Hermione could.
"Ah, we don't really know! We've tried asking but not even Lupin will tell us, and usually he's the best source."
"No, he didn't tell me either." Harry said.
"Well, it's gotta be someone rich. Wait 'til you see the bedrooms!"
"And it has to be a really talented witch or wizard who owns it," Hermione pointed out, quite pleased with the change of subject. "The charm that's disguising it must be pretty complicated."
"Maybe Dumbledore did it?" Ginny suggested.
"Nope. I asked what the charm was and he said he couldn't know for sure. The owners did it."
"What did you want to know the charm for?" Ron demanded, "Are you gonna try it yourself if it's so complicated?"
"Oh, Ron!" Hermione moaned, "I was only interested." The two of them began squabbling, leaving Harry and Ginny to their own discussions.
"So.ready for school to start?" Ginny asked, as she watched Ron and Hermione with a grin.
"Oh, uh..sure." Harry's throat clenched a bit at the thought of returning. He glanced behind him again, and shifted uneasily in his seat. "You?"
"Sure." Ginny stared at him briefly and then looked as if she was searching for something to say.
"Where are the twins?" Harry asked. Fred and George Weasley were Ron and Ginny's fun-loving older brothers. Harry had just noticed their absence.
"Oh, they're pretty busy lately. Their joke shop has been a huge success." Ginny looked like she was about to say more, but she was interrupted by an indignant shout from Ron.
"SLACKER? Just because I give myself a little free time doesn't mean I'm a slacker!" He was starting to get rather red.
"Ron!" Mrs. Weasley scolded him from the end of the table. "If you are done eating you can go do something useful, like straighten your room."
"Or do your homework." Hermione muttered under her breath. With a triumphant look, she rose and waited for Harry and Ron. They walked back to the staircase, followed by Ginny.
As they made their way up the stairs, Hermione turned to Harry with a serious look.
"So how are you Harry? They sure took their time getting you! We thought they'd be fetching you weeks ago."
"Yeah, well," Harry started, "Dumbledore wouldn't allow it until now I guess. Had to finish the protections or something."
"Protections!" Ron cried. "This place is dripping with protection charms! They couldn't add more if they wanted to." Hermione was looking thoughtful.
"Hmm.well I haven't noticed any changes since I got here, and that was awhile ago. I wonder what they could've done."
"I wonder why they didn't mind us being here if it wasn't protected?" Ron asked, clearly offended. "I guess we don't matter? Why's Harry so pampered?" Hermione gave him a sharp look, but Harry spoke up before she could say anything.
"I think Snape has something to do with it." He said quietly. He was eager to change the subject. He thought he knew exactly why they were so overprotective of him, but he hadn't told his best friends about the prophecy, and he didn't want to bring it up now. "He came with Lupin and Mundungus, you know."
"Bet that was a thrill." Ron turned to Harry grimly as they reached the top of the stairs and turned right. "Why'd he go?"
"I don't know, but he was acting weird..and something happened just before we left Privet Drive. A few things actually."
"What do you mean?" Hermione asked. Harry waited until they'd gone into a room and shut the door.
"Well, he wanted to speak to me privately, said he--" Harry stopped mid-sentence as he looked around the room, jaw practically falling off his face.
"Pretty spectacular, eh?" Ron said, grinning.
"No, I mean yes, but...it's just that I." Harry looked back to the other three slowly, ".I recognize this room." For a moment, the three of them stared blankly at Harry, but soon, Ron narrowed his eyes suspiciously and Hermione got a distant, thoughtful look in her eye. Harry started walking around the room taking in all the details.
"From a dream or from real life?" Hermione asked seriously as Harry walked over to the fireplace. He looked on the mantle, but felt strangely disappointed when he saw nothing familiar there.
"I don't know," he admitted, "But it must have been a long time ago." He paused before a door, but as he reached for a handle, Ron spoke up.
"That's just a closet, mate. This room is at the edge of the house, see?" He seemed pleased with his logic, and actually chanced a quick look at Hermione to see if she was listening. When he turned back, however, he nearly choked.
Harry had opened the closet door, but instead of finding a dark closet, he saw before him a smaller, cozier room, warm and bright.
"What the..! I opened that door myself!" Ron cried, flabbergasted. "I had clothes in that closet!" He hurried over to inspect the new room along with Hermione and Ginny.
"Wow, Harry.what do you think this is?" Hermione said quietly, but Ginny answered first.
"It's a nursery." She said matter-of-factly. She waved a hand at the walls, which were covered in a playful, star pattern. Harry had a strong feeling that she was right. This was all getting too weird for him, and though the other three were quite interested in exploring the new room, he wanted more than anything to get out of it. He turned quickly and strode out of the room, and was glad to see that the others followed him, if somewhat reluctantly. It wasn't until Hermione shut the door behind them that Harry relaxed.
Ron tried at once to reopen it, but found only his dark, messy closet. He turned awkwardly to Harry. Luckily, Hermione broke the silence.
"So what were you saying about Snape?" she asked innocently. Harry looked at her gratefully, and hurried to tell them all about the strange vial and Snape's whispered conversations with Lupin.
"So Lupin was gonna let that git poison you?" Ron cried in disbelief.
"Well, it wasn't poison, I think," Harry said slowly, "I feel fine, my head only hurt for a second. In any case, Snape seemed affected more than me. What bothers me is that Lupin obviously wanted him to give it to me. He seemed really displeased that he didn't."
"Hmm. Well, if you're fine now..and Dumbledore knows about it." Hermione didn't seem too worried. Harry didn't know whether to agree or not. Dumbledore almost always knew the right thing to do, but still, hadn't Snape said that he would be telling Dumbledore about this later? It sounded as if Snape had gone against Dumbledore's wishes somehow, something that made Harry highly suspicious.
"Maybe you should just ask Lupin." Ginny said evenly. She had a point.
"Yeah, I guess I will. Maybe tomorrow." Harry collapsed on one of the room's two beds. He hadn't realized how tired he was, but thinking back to his sleeping habits over the last few weeks, he wasn't surprised. The atmosphere of the room was extremely cozy. Hermione and Ginny were stroking Hermione's cat Crookshanks, who was sprawled comfortably on Ron's bad. Meanwhile, Ron had stretched out on a couch by the fireplace. Harry was reminded strongly of their house common room at school. As usual, as soon as he thought of Hogwarts, the panic returned to him, and he wished again that he could stay as far as possible from the people he loved.
He had to admit it though; it was nice to see them all. It felt so good to have someone to talk to about his worries. Harry sighed happily as he lay there, surrounded by friends, and before he knew it, he had drifted off to sleep.