The Aftermath

Chapter Five
The Moonlight Getaway

Harry didn't have much time to contemplate this thought, because the next morning he received a letter that he would be transported to a safe house the next day, so he got ready. He packed his things and he waited.

His guard arrived at a quarter past seven. The guard took him somewhere near London as before (they passed over the city), but not Grimmauld Place. Harry supposed that Dumbledore wanted to keep an eye on him.

"Here we are!" Lupin called.

Harry, however, was at a loss as to where "here" was. They had landed in a sort of dip four feet deep, and in some places several meters deep, and miles wide in the middle of a meadow.

Moody handed him a piece of paper, not unlike the paper he had handed him the year before. It was from Dumbledore (undoubtedly secret keeper of the safe house) and it said, "The Order's chosen holding place is the Moonlight Manor." Harry read that and thought about it as Moody burned the slip of paper. Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Harry said aloud.

"Shh!" hushed Lupin. "There's a reason it's named Moonlight Manor, Harry – it can only fully be seen at a crescent moon and if you haven't noticed, there is no moon at the moment. So, technically, you can't see it at all. You can half see it during half moons, and see 25 of it during quarter moons, but none of it during full or no moons, or when it's daylight. The only day you can see it is on the anniversary of it's completion which is Christmas day."

"Then how are we supposed to get it?" Harry asked.

"By making our own moonlight," Tonks said quietly.

She pulled out her wand. "This is a handy little spell the owner of the place taught us a while back." She muttered a few words that seemed to have a lot of long "I" sounds and a circualar beam of silver light sprouted out of her wand. "Now think of the name, Harry."

He did so as she pointed the beam of silver light in front of her. Suddenly, he could see a circle in midair that looked like it part of a door. Kingsley (who was there as well) walked forward and opened it and Harry caught a glimpse of a brightly lit hallway.

"Come along, Harry," said a witch with silver hair.

And then Harry was practically pushed into the doorway and the door shut behind them.

"Harry," said Lupin, smiling broadly, "Welcome to Moonlight Manor."

When Harry had become accustomed to the light, he saw that this place had to be just as rich as Grimmauld Place, except completely opposite when it came to tone of decoration.

All the colors were light. There was white, peach, and the hardwood floors were made of lighter wood and highly polished. This place, which had no cobwebs to speak of, looked anything but abandoned. The candles had little lampshades on them that gave the hall a sort of bright glow. Harry could see that the umbrella stand (in the shape of an umbrella), the shoe rack, the coat hooks, and the lamps (which were attached to the walls) were made of solid gold. The lamps even had diamonds hanging on them. Not to mention the doorknobs, for there were many doors along the hallway.

"Ah, here we go," Tonks said, pointing out a hallway branching off to their right. It was dark there until she snapped her fingers in it. The lamps immediately lit up and on the wall in a picture frame was a map. A very detailed and expansive map. This map proved that the place Harry had just entered, was huge. There were numerous corridors and countless rooms.

"Copy please!" Tonks said to it and suddenly, a copy emerged from the bottom of the frame.

"Zoom format!" she said to the copy she had in her hand. It shrank to the size of an 8 inch by 11 inch piece of paper, though only showed a section.

"Here you are, Harry," she said brightly handing the map to Harry. "To look at the other parts of the map just say to it up, down, left, or right and it'll move the view in that direction. This place is big Harry, you'll need it. You're in Guestroom Seven, we'll be in the kitchen with Molly preparing dinner for you."

"Whoa," was all Harry could say.

"I know, it's cool isn't it?" Tonks said to him almost jumping up and down.

Harry looked up from his map. "What about Ron and Hermione?"

"Oh, they're here too," Tonks said. "All of the underage kids are here, but don't worry. You all get weekly updates, we wouldn't deprive you of the important information after what you all did last month!"

"Wicked! But, wait, Fred and George?" Harry inquired.

"They're here as well – it's more accommodating. And it's not like we'd tell them any more than we'd tell you guys. Molly agreed to let them join the Order after Christmas, but not yet. It's closer to Diagon Alley than the Burrow so they make the commute from here," Lupin answered.

"You'd better be off, Harry, you don't want to keep anyone waiting!" Tonks said shooing Harry in the right direction.

They disappeared down the main hall leaving Harry very confused in what the map had labeled as "Wizard Wing Hallway."

"But where's the way to Guestroom Seven?" he said to himself.

But the map immediately showed the whole manor view with a red line showing him the route. The route was full of twists and turns so Harry had to be attentive, even though the map had a labeled dot that said "You are here."

As Harry walked he went through dens and parlors that had different themes to them. Some had specific color themes like blue, purple, or black and silver. Some were decorated with music notes and had instruments in them, some normal like pianos and guitars and some rather strange ones that Harry supposed must be used by wizards. There was another devoted to Quidditch and Harry was almost tempted to stop and look but he heard voices in the next hallway so he hurried forward. His room was in this hallway. He walked slowly forward with the map in front of his face when something hit him with the force of a Bludger.