So the situation was explained to Mr. and Mrs. Granger. All about the danger in the wizarding world, about Voldemort, and about the Order, and about Harry's position.
"Professor, why was my family in danger?" Hermione asked.
Dumbledore let out a long sigh. "He's freed the Dementors," he said simply.
Hermione's eyes widened.
"It's been on the muggle news, something about people being found in comas all over England. They're exaggerating, of course. Only three or four muggles have lost their souls. However, it is still a risk for the wizarding world."
Hermione nodded. "So…are they going to stay here then?" she asked, waving a hand in her mother's direction.
"Yes, until we move to the new quarters," said Dumbledore. "Excuse me for a moment." He turned and walked into the kitchen where pumpkin pie was being served. He came back a minute later with Charlie.
"I'll show you where you'll be sleeping," Charlie offered. He took the bags and led the family upstairs. Hermione and Harry followed.
"Hermione?" Charlie asked after he had led the family into the room they would be staying in and they had gone inside. "Could you tell your sister that she can have her own room, share with you and Ginny, or stay with your parents."
"I'll tell her," replied Hermione.
"Alright, I'm going back to dinner." Charlie smiled and turned to walk down the stairs.
"Maddy," Hermione called into the room. The girl came to the door and leant on the door frame. "Do you wan to stay in my room, your own room, or with Mum and Dad?" Hermione asked her sister.
"Your room," the girl said without a second thought. Hermione laughed. The girl went back into the room her parents were staying in.
Harry took Hermione's hand and pulled her down the hall and into his room. He pushed the door closed with his foot and pulled her into his arms. She pressed her lips onto his, and the world around them dissolved as they got lost in each other.
There was a soft knock on the door followed by a much louder banging. Hermione gasped and pulled away.
"What?" Harry shouted. The door opened and Ron walked in and sat down on his bed. Hermione's sister, Madeline, was behind him, standing in the doorway. Hermione smiled at Harry and left the room with her sister. "I'll show you my room, ok?" she said to Maddy as they walked off down the hall.
"Snogging?" Ron asked Harry.
"Shut it," Harry said, throwing his pillow at Ron. Ron shrugged and tossed it back.
Two weeks later, as if by magic, the new headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix were ready. The house was packed up and everyone's trunks by the front door.
"Absolutely not!" cried Alastor Moody. "We are not all going at the same time! It's much too large of a target. We'll have to go in groups."
"Alastor," said Molly soothingly, "The quicker we get there the better. If death eaters are watching us they will notice that we are going in groups and be prepared for us when the next group comes…if we all go at once it will be much safer."
"All right," Alastor said, shaking his head and looking disbelieving.
Charlie came bounding down the stairs to the large congregation waiting at the door. "Is everyone ready?" he asked. There was a murmur of consent throughout the hall. Charlie waved his want over the pile of trunks, bags, and belongings. He opened a small bag at his feet and pointed his wand at it. All of the luggage that was waiting in a pile by the door flew into the bag, shrinking as it went.
Hermione smiled. "The stocké charm," she said.
Charlie nodded. He picked up the small bag at his feet, now the only bag in the hall, and walked out the door. As he passed through the door, Alastor cast the disillusionment charm on him. He did the same for each person as they passed through the door, following Charlie and climbing on the flying carpet that was awaiting them. Once everyone was aboard, the carpet took off. It was fairly dark, at about 8:30 pm. They flew right up into the sky, as high as they could go so as not to be seen by muggles.
Harry and Ron were on the opposite end of the carpet from Hermione and her family. Though it was not very far, the carpet had been magically expanded to fit everybody so it seemed like quite a distance, and with all the people in between, Harry couldn't really see Hermione.
After about 20 minutes, everyone began to feel rather cold. Harry shivered and pulled his cloak up higher on is shoulders, folding it over so it was closed more tightly. On the other side of the carpet, Hermione shivered. She decided to move to the other side of the carpet and sit with Harry. She told her parents she was going to go with her friends, and crawled across the carpet to join them.
Harry smiled. "Hey gorgeous," he said. She slid towards him and sat between his legs, resting her head on his chest.
"Harry," Hermione said. "Could you watch and make sure my parents aren't watching," she said worriedly.
Harry kissed the top of her head. "Shhhh. It'll be fine, Mione." Hermione sighed and relaxed against him.
About an hour later the carped began to loose elevation, and was soon stopped outside a huge, old looking manor. It was very dark, so they couldn't se much around the grounds, but there were torches around the castle making it visible. "They made it look old on purpose, but wait till you see the inside," said Charlie. He had been helping a bit with construction. "It's protected with every spell in the book," he said. "About twice as much protection as there was at the Quiddtich World Cup." He hopped off the carpet, taking the small bag with him.
Once everyone had climbed off, the carpet rolled itself up and disappeared. Charlie walked up to the front doors and pushed them open. As Harry walked through the grand doorway, the magnificent sights filled his eyes.
They were in a huge entrance hall; the room was painted a deep red, and was trimmed with gold. Harry resisted the urge to let his jaw drop. There were magnificent paintings hung on the walls, and at the other end of the hall there was another set of doors, edged in gold and with gold doorknobs. Charlie led them through these doors and here they found a large, cozy looking dining hall. It was slightly smaller than the entrance hall, and was painted a dark blue and trimmed with black. There were about 20 small tables scattered around the room, each set for six, and with silver plates, cutlery, cups, and goblets. Hermione looked up at the ceiling and gasped. It was like a huge mirror, reflecting everything in the room below. Harry smiled as she slid her hand into his.
Charlie attracted everyone's attention by clearing his throat loudly. "I have maps, and I'll tell you your room numbers. The regular resident rooms have common rooms, and are slightly larger and more extravagant that the other rooms. All of you will be in regular resident rooms." He handed a map, a key, and a small slip of paper to each of them. "The papers have your room numbers on them, and the keys will open both your common room and you own room."
Harry looked down at his. It said his name, and under that it said #113. He looked over at Hermione's. #112. He smiled. They would be close to each other.
"What room you in?" asked Ron, looking up from his paper.
"113," replied Harry. "You?" He asked.
"115" He replied.
Harry looked down at his map. "We share a common room," he said. "Mione too."
"Ok," said Charlie cheerfully, "I suggest you all head to your rooms now. It's been a long and tiring day."
