Ok, just for the people's sake, for the entire rest of the story: I don't own any characters, objects, places, or pretty much ANYTHING mentioned in my story, unless I add a character or something…:P

By: js140deg

Romance, Humor, and Love

Chapter 2: The Letter

The trio of now reunited friends walked into Harry's office in the Auror Headquarters in the Ministry of Magic. Harry and Ron simply walked in and sat down, but Hermione had quite had the same idea. Having never been to any place Harry had ever lived in, the fact that his small cubicle was such a mess astonished her. She stood open-mouthed, staring at all the clutter.

"Uh…Um…Why---Why Harry, what a nice office!" Hermione said with a nervous laugh. She looked over the floor and spied a few chocolate frog wrappers in the corner.

"Oh, sorry, forgot I had those last time I talked to Harry. I seem to be spending much more time in here than I am actually doing work." Ron said, picking up the trash and throwing it in the trash bin.

Hermione carefully stepped her way through the strewn papers and sat in a seat beside Ron as Harry tried frantically to clean up.

"Sorry it's such a mess Hermione, I just never seem to have time to clean it up, with Ron sending me on all these "missions" to see if reported leads on voldemort and other at large wizards and witches are true" Harry chuckled, throwing away a stack of papers a foot high.

After finishing cleaning up, they all began to talk about Ron's new lead on Voldemort. Apparently, a young woman had been found out in the woods nearby a small London town of the name Rudysburg (Oh yeah, that's mine, I think...). Upon discovering the young woman, the 2 men in the woods noticed a small skull burn mark in the center of her forehead, literally millimeters above her eyes. Ron was just about the say goodbye to Harry and Hermione, having decided to go with Harry on the trip, when a mail owl swooped in, dropped a letter on the desk, and came to rest on Harry's shoulder.

"Hello Hedwig," Harry said smiling as he opened the letter. "Hmm, no return address or anything…" He pulled out a piece of green folded parchment from the envelope and yelped in pain. "AHH!!! SON OF A BITCH! THAT HURT!" He screamed, causing several other auror's and visitors to glare at him for using such vulgar language in a place of such importance. He gave them a polite smile and mouthed the word "sorry" and blew on his hand.

"What happened Harry?" Ron said as he picked up the letter. He held it to Hermione who took it and rubbed her hands over it, not feeling any burning or pain.

"How can you guy's do that? It feels like it's made of acid!" Harry exclaimed as he put on a pair of gloves and grabbed it, wincing at the very slight pressure put on his wounds. He began to open it up as Ron said, "After we find out what's written on it I'll send it down stairs for testing". Harry finished unfolding it and read out loud in a quiet voice.

"Dear Harry Potter,

I am regretted to inform you, well, no not really regretted, more like delighted to inform you that your luck has run out, as you will soon find out after the impudent Weasley boy", at this Ron scowled, "has told you of the REAL lead I ordered one of my followers to phone in to the Ministry of Magic. So here's hoping your dreams are filled with visions of snakes biting you to death.

Sincerely,

Lord Voldemort"

Harry finished and put the letter down in shock. He fell into his chair and let his jaw hang open slightly. How in the world, could this have happened? How could Voldemort have risen so much, and become so cocky, that he actually had the gall to phone in a real lead to where to find him, and then send a letter that had, obviously now, been hexed so that it burned him badly whenever his skin touched it. It didn't make any sense. But now that he thought about it, nothing ever seemed to make sense with Voldemort.

Ron and Hermione were also sitting down now, staring into space with their mouths slightly ajar. Hermione was the first to come to.

"Ok, this just gives up all the more reason to get off our asses and find that little…No, I will not stoop to his level. Harry, close your mouth and get up. Ron you too, your coming with us." Ron started to protest but closed his mouth again when Hermione reached for her wand and reminded him of how bad it had been when his wand had broken in school and the slug hex he had intended to put on Malfoy backfired and caused him to cough up slugs for almost a full day.

"Hermione's right Ron, we need all the help we can get." Harry said, getting out of his chair, grabbing his wand, and his coat, and moving toward the "door" of the cubicle.

"Wait, Harry." Ron gulped. "There won't be…Be any snakes, will there?" Hermione rolled her eyes and Harry grinned and said, "I can't make any promises to you."

At this, the three walked out of the cubicle, down the hall, threw the paper into the fireplace, and got into the elevator. They were going to meet Voldemort all right, but it wasn't Harry's luck that had come to its end.

Mwahaha! J/K Stay Tuned for Chapter 3!!!