The Quetzal's Fire

Harry Potter

I'm trying to start a Harry Potter fanfiction message board. Email me or go to my homepage link and sign up for my totally subjective admittance process. As always: idiots need not apply. Fools, of course, are more than welcome.

A/N: I began writing this story in Hong Kong, so I figure may as well say something about that insane and incredible place. It's the densest city in the world. 10 million human beings are crammed into what I think is less than ten square miles.
Yeah.
It's also probably the richest place in the world by square inch. An incredible amount of wealth is crammed in there. Despite all that it still manages to seem smaller and more managable than New York or even Boston. It's wierd, but true.
I apologize for the short length of the chapter- New Year's kept me occupied, which brings me to the next thing. I hope next year is better than this one. Certainly, it's not hard to believe that we can do better than this year: the genocide in Darfur, the ongoing war in Iraq which I believe should not have happened in the first place, and countless other civil wars and conflicts still doing ill to people worldwide. The clinchers are, of course, the election I'm still pissed about here Stateside and the horrors wrought by a tsunami and earthquake that originated just west of Sumatra. By this morning's count 100,000 lives were ended and 300,000 souls were seriously injured. It goes without saying that in the new year we can do a hell of a lot better. Hopefully God, the human spirit, and hard work will bless the world with an easier and happier existence than we had before.

Part Seven: The Big Three

Warren Granger pulled up at his house in Dover just as exhausted as his daughter and wife. They had just gotten off the train from London, where they'd landed after the eleven hour flight from Hong Kong. It didn't help him to think of the purchases they'd made there; his credit rating was already bad enough. Not only that, but his daughter's education and those things that went with it were hardly cheap.

It was unfortunate, then, that he was instantly reminded of his daughter's schooling by the appearance of two of her friends and the cheap looking car they had apparently arrived in.

"Harry! Ron!" shouted Hermione. The two tall boys grinned as she hugged the both of them in turn.

"Hi, 'Mione," said Harry brightly. "How was China?"

"Oh, it's incredible. But what are you doing here?" asked Hermione without much surprise.

"Doing anything the rest of the summer?" countered Ron.

"No, not really," said Edith Granger with a smile. "But Warren and I both hoped that we would see a little more of Hermione."

"Perhaps you would like to stay the night?" wondered Mr. Granger hopefully. It'd been too long since they'd had at least a month with Hermione.

"We'd love to sir, but Professor Dumbledore has Harry under tight security," said Remus Lupin, who had accompanied them and until that point had been sitting on the Grangers' porch. "I'm Remus Lupin- I taught Hermione for a year."

"Yes, we remember Hermione's letters about you. She says you were quite the teacher," said Mrs. Granger. Hermione rolled her eyes as the adults negotiated terms.

"I hate it when they do this. Are you at the Burrow or Headquarters?" she asked.

"No, we're actually at Hogwarts," said Ron. "The Order moved out of Headquarters."

"Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, Professor Dumbledore is helping us with our homework," said Harry, grinning. "All the Order is there, too."

"Unfair!" Hermione rapped him on the arm lightly. "Is everyone from the Order there too?"

"Yeah, and my whole family," said Ron gloomily. "Even Percy." Hermione didn't say anything about that, but she was impressed nonetheless.

"Dear, do you have everything together?" asked Mrs. Granger.

"Yes, mother," said Hermione.

"I suppose we will see you at the end of your term then," said Mr. Granger sadly. Hermione embraced the both of them and gathered her things.

"We'll send the rest of your things along," added Mrs. Granger. "Write us, dear."

Harry, Ron, and Lupin each grabbed a bag and put them in the trunk of Lupin's Ford Escort. Harry got to shotgun first, so Hermione and Ron took the backseat.

"It's good to see you again, Hermione," remarked Lupin as they pulled away.

"Speaking of seeing, maybe you'd've liked to have seen the inside of your house before we left," cracked Ron. Nobody laughed.

Ron didn't say anything for awhile after that.

"How're things with the Order, Professor?" asked Hermione.

"Please, just call me Remus. The Order is doing as well as it can be expected to be, I suppose. But you heard about the Azkaban breakout, didn't you?" Lupin replied.

"Yes. There wasn't much the Order or Ministry could have done about that, is there?" wondered Hermione.

"No, not really, with the dementors on the other side. I still wish there had been enough people to stop it, though." Lupin shivered visibly. "Enough of dark things, though. It's still July and it's a month until school. Any plans?"

"Well, I just got back to the Continent Pro- I mean, Remus," said Hermione. "Unless you two have any ideas?"

"Yeah, I get to study all cozy-like with Snape," muttered Harry. "In order to get into his NEWT class."

Hermione was nonplussed.

"Well, it's lucky you convinced him to let you do catch up. I mean, you can't apply for being and auror without getting O's on those NEWTs, can you?"

"No," replied Harry, annoyed. Hermione wasn't exactly the one to bitch to about the faculty.

"Who have they got for the defense against the dark arts post?" asked Hermione. "I haven't gotten my letter yet."

"Abd al Rahman," said Lupin. "He's a Syrian wizard. A descendant of the Prophet, as the legend goes."

"Wow," said Hermione. Ron was lost.

"The who?"

"The Prophet, Ron! Muhammad!"

"Who?"

"He founded Islam, Ron," said Harry, exasperated.

"Iz.. what?"

"It's a major religion, Ron," said Lupin, who was grinning. "It's predominant in the Middle East, Indian Subcontinent, North Africa, and Southeast Asia."

"Oh," said Ron faintly. Hermione rolled her eyes and continued the interrogation.

"So is Professor al Rahman a member of the Order?"

"Yes, he is actually. He's been very useful, acting as a liaison to Arab wizards. You-Know-Who's been trying to recruit as much as he can there, but he hasn't gotten personal. He's more than a little bigoted," Lupin observed bitterly.

"I couldn't have guessed," said Harry sardonically.

"Anyway, he'll be focusing on defensive spells this year," Lupin concluded. "So you were in China, Hermione?"

"Just Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan," said Hermione. "We didn't want to try and go to the mainland."

"What's Hong Kong like?" asked Harry.

"It's fascinating. It's skyscrapers just crammed together- and all of it is built on hills that wouldn't get built on if it were anywhere else. And there's a huge wave of construction going on because of the handover,"

"Handover?" asked Ron. He was woefully ignorant of muggle politics.

"We're giving Hong Kong back to the Chinese next year, Ron," said Hermione.

"Oh… it's major, then?"

"No, Ron, nobody cares. It's just that most of the money in Asia passes through there at some point," said Hermione.

"Aw, come on, you aren't this mean to Harry when he asks about being a wizard," protested Ron.

"You should know about this, wizard or not, Ron," said Lupin, who had been listening bemusedly the whole time. "Though it was rather mean hearted to jump on him like that. Though, perhaps it's not spite," the werewolf shot Harry a meaningful look. Harry gave a very obvious nod.

"What's all that about?" demanded Ron suspiciously.

"Oh, nothing," Harry lied.

-

The four of them went to the main pub for wizards in Dover, the Hag's Oven. From there they took floo powder to the Three Broomsticks and had quite a time hauling Hermione's baggage up to the castle.

"What have you got in here, bricks?" panted Ron, heaving the bag he was carrying over Gryffindor Tower's portrait hole.

"All that quidditch training you talk about, and you can't haul a duffel bag half a mile," said Hermione waspishly. Harry sighed audibly and dropped the two bags he was carrying at the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

"Good to be back together again, isn't it?"