There were gasps from several places around the table. An attack on Hogwarts had not been wholly unexpected, but no one had anticipated that it might happen so soon. There was silence as every face in the room turned to look anxiously at Albus Dumbledore. To Harry's bewilderment, Dumbledore looked perfectly calm. "This is not surprising news" he said calmly "Though it is useful to have the information for certain. I have some plans which can be put into operation very soon and will start taking all necessary precautions immediately." He rose from his place and walked swiftly to the fireplace. "I must go to Hogwarts without delay. I bid you all goodnight" He threw floopowder into the cracking flames and within seconds was spinning out of sight. There was silence again as everyone stared fixedly at the place he had just vanished from, and then Fred broke the silence.
"I wonder what his plans are" he said curiously "He's never mentioned anything." "Well no, but Dumbledore doesn't share everything with the Order" said his mother, beginning to tidy away mugs. "He probably didn't want us to get into a panic." She added matter-of-factly, though Harry could tell she would have liked to know more too.

That evening, Harry went up to bed earlier than usual. He was very tired from his expedition and the thought of bed was very welcoming. He went upstairs, taking his robes with him. He hung them up in the cupboard and closed the doors. He turned to walk over to his bed when there was a soft knock on the door. He went over and opened it a couple of inches. Hermione stood outside. Harry quickly opened the door wide to let her come inside. He closed the door behind her and turned to face her. "What is it?" he asked, puzzled. Hermione had had plenty of time to speak to him before he came upstairs. "It's just um… Ron. He is ok isn't he?" she said awkwardly, blushing a bright red. "Yeah he's fine" said Harry still puzzled. He had told everyone how Ron was. He had a feeling that this was not what Hermione really wanted to ask. He looked questioningly at her. She blushed even brighter and fiddled with her watch,
"Um.. Did he… did he give you any…well any message for me?" Hermione asked in an awkward voice. Harry suddenly understood.
"No he didn't" he said, wishing he could tell her something different. She looked really disappointed. "I'm sure he would of, but we didn't have time to talk" he added quickly. Hermione forced a smile and then walked quickly from the room, her cheeks still burning.

Though exhausted, Harry tossed and turned in bed for a long time before he got to sleep. He lay looking at Ron's empty bed on the other side of the room and couldn't help wishing Ron was lying asleep there, safe and sound. It should be him that was out in the streets risking his life. He had caused Voldemort's downfall once and he would have to do it again, if there was to be any hope at all for the wizarding world returning to peace. He swung his feet out of bed and stood up. He was about to reach for his cloak, when he realised how much trouble his disappearance would cause. He sat down reluctantly and then pulled the duvet over himself again. He closed his eyes, trying desperately to rid his brain of the thoughts of Ron out there while he was stuck at Grimmauld Place. He now fully appreciated how Sirius had felt in Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts, when he had been forced to stay in the house for almost a year. At least Harry had been allowed out sometimes.

When Harry finally drifted off to sleep, his dreams were troubled. He saw Ron lying on the ground, his eyes staring at nothing, a tall, black figure standing over him, green light still hovering around the end of it's wand. As Harry ran forward quickly, the figure looked up, it's eyes fixing on Harry. A shiver went down his spine as he saw the bright red. The figure raised it's wand and Harry woke with a start, sweating and afraid. It took him a long time to get to sleep after that. As soon as he closed his eyes, the image appeared and Harry snapped his eyes open again. It was not until the first rays of the rising sun crept silently over the windowsill, that he slept again.

He woke to the sound of someone knocking gently at the door. He got slowly out of bed, rubbing his eyes and yawning, and made his way to the door. He opened it to find Mrs Weasley standing there with a pile of clothes. She looked sympathetically at him. "Didn't you sleep well?" she asked, kindly. "Why not just put on a dressing gown to come to breakfast and then after that you can come back and sleep a bit more." "No, it's ok" said Harry, barely containing another yawn. "I'll be down soon" He took the pile of clean clothes from Mrs Weasley and shut the door again. He got dressed slowly, putting on jeans and a t-shirt. He nearly always wore Muggle clothes, as did most of the others his age. Only slightly older wizards like Dumbledore and Mr Weasley seemed to wear clothes that would look totally out of place in the muggle world.

Walking into the kitchen ten minutes later, Harry saw Dumbledore sitting at the top of the table, taking a parchment envelope from the leg of a large tawny owl. He took a seat half way along the table and started to eat the bowl of cereal Mrs Weasley had put down in front of him as soon as he sat down. He watched Dumbledore out of the corner of his eye, wondering if the letter contained any news. Dumbledore looked slightly surprised. He folded up the letter and tucked inside his robes before turning to look seriously at Harry. "Harry," he began, his voice quite grave "How would you feel about going out again tonight?" Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw Mrs Weasley's head turn quickly to look at them.
"I don't think that's a good idea Albus" she said firmly "Harry is tired out as it is." "Harry needn't go anywhere if he doesn't feel able to Molly." said Dumbledore calmly "He's old enough to decide for himself though." "I'll go out" said Harry quickly, eager to be of some use again. He avoided looking at Mrs Weasley as he said this. He knew she didn't approve. "What is it?" "I've just had a letter from Ron" said Dumbledore looking slightly worried. "He needs someone to meet him, same time, same place tonight."

As Harry got ready to leave that night, Hermione, Mrs Weasley and Ginny stood around him, fussing about all sorts of things. All three were clearly worried and Harry couldn't blame them. He had felt slightly uneasy since that morning when Dumbledore had told him the contents of the letter. Why would Ron need to see a member of the order again so soon? He had not told Mrs Weasley, Ginny or Hermione what Ron had said about being followed for fear of upsetting them even more, but the thought was weighing heavily on his own mind. He put on his cloak and checked that his wand was safely in his pocket, where it could easily be pulled out if needed. Mrs Weasley hugged him and told him to be careful, and Hermione and Ginny followed suite. As he went to open the door, Hermione and Mrs Weasley went through the door to go down to the kitchen, but Ginny stayed where she was.
"Please be careful Harry" she said in almost a whisper, then turned and ran to the door. Harry looked at the door she had just vanished through for a moment before opening the door and going out onto the street.

Harry walked the now familiar route to the pub without anything much happening. At one point of the route, a quick movement to his left had caused him to pull out his wand and sink into the darkest shadows, but it had been nothing more than a cat. He was glad to reach the pub, for although he hated the place, he had walked a long way and was tired. He pushed open the door. It creaked even louder than it had the night before, but to Harry's relief, no one was taking much notice of his arrival. He closed the door as gently as he could. By the amount of wood flakes that came off of it, he doubted it could survive being slammed. He made his way quickly over to the bar, adjusting his hood to make sure his face was not visible. He took a seat at the bar again, coughing slightly on the fumes coming from a pipe being smoked by a wrinkled old wizard sitting at a nearby table. The barman came over and asked what he wanted and Harry once again ordered a Butterbeer. The barman gave him a funny look, but let it pass. Harry silently cursed himself for not ordering something different this time. He did not want the barman to know it was the same person again, even if he didn't know who it was.

Once he had his drink, Harry drank slowly from the bottle, keeping an eye on the door. It opened every so often and Harry looked up expectantly each time, his hopes falling as he saw that it wasn't Ron. He checked his watch now and then, growing increasingly worried as the time passed. Ron had been there by 9 the previous evening and it was now well past 10. Harry felt a feeling of fear rising inside him, and ordered another drink to try and calm himself down.

As quarter to 11 approached, the bar started to empty slowly and Harry began to feel very worried indeed. For the past hour he had sat thinking of any reason he could why Ron would be so late, but none of them had made much sense. His dream was creeping into his head and Harry could not help feeling there might have been some truth in it. He was now sitting staring at the door, not caring whether people would think this strange or not. He sat there until he was one of only three people left in the bar. The barman came along the bar.
"Closing time" he said and Harry reluctantly got up. He made his way to the door, not sure what he should do. He went through the door and closed it behind him quickly. He had made up his mind, He was going to Ron's house to look for him.

As Harry walked swiftly and quietly along the streets, glad of the thick clouds that covered the moon and blacked out the night sky. He did not have to be quite so careful to keep in the shadows. Although he walked fast, his progression was slow, as he stopped at every street corner, not altogether certain of which way to go. He was glad that the route held certain landmarks here and there and felt a surge of relief every time he saw a familiar object. Soon he had reached the road where Ron's house was. He turned into it, he head down. He knew that if there was danger, he was fast approaching it. As it passed a metal dustbin. He noticed that an eerie green light was reflecting off it and was at once aware that the night was no longer dark. He heart filling with dread, Harry slowly turned his head upwards. He froze, an icy wave washing over him as his eyes fixed on the Dark Mark, hovering silently, over the pile of rubble that had been Ron's house.