Chapter 20

That next afternoon, Dumbledore arrived by Floo.

"Hello, Nell, Harry. Molly," he greeted them.

"Hello, Mr. Dumbledore," Nell and Harry replied, not quite in unison.

"Hello, Albus," said Molly at nearly the same time. "I'll just run upstairs for a bit?" she went on. He nodded at her.

When she'd gone, he smiled at Nell and Harry, but his eyes were tired. "Nell, Harry, I'm terribly sorry to be so abrupt, but we have found a place for you to stay. I'm afraid we must leave right away."

Nell blinked. "But -- but, what about my friends?"

"I'm afraid you won't be able to stay with anyone -- there is a bit more danger for them if you and Harry are there."

"Danger? Is something going on -- something more than the press? I thought all this was --"

"Well. Er, actually," Dumbledore rubbed at his chin. "Perhaps it would be best if --" he glanced at Harry.

Nell crossed her arms. "I think it would be best if you told us what is going on."

Dumbledore sighed. "It would be best if you and Harry moved to this new location. I regret that I cannot, at this time, tell you why."

"But what happened to my friends? Are they all right?"

"As far as I know," Dumbledore said, frowning slightly, "they are fine. Why do you ask?"

"Well, they haven't called me back --" Just then, her mobile made a liar of her, and rang. "Hello?"

"Hello, Nell."

"Emma!" she shrieked in relief. "What's wrong? Did you go over to Audrey's?"

"Yeah. Look, Nell, maybe you could -- not call for awhile? Things are kind of funny here, and it would really be best if you just kind of, I dunno, shoved off." Emma's voice was flat, and a bit rough.

Nell took her mobile away from her face and stared at it for a moment. "Er, Emma, what's going on? Did you find Audrey? What was happening? Talk to me, luv, I'm getting worried."

"Like I said, Nell. Leave it. We're all fine."

"Excuse me if I don't believe you," said Nell, hearing her voice squawk and not caring.

"I'm ringing off now. Don't call me back. Not until you've gotten rid of Harry."

"Gotten rid of --" Nell started to ask, but true to her word, Emma had rung off.

Nell sat, looking at nothing, for several long minutes, ignoring the others' questions.

After a bit, she had gathered enough wits to ring her mother.

The attempt didn't reassure her; her mother's machine picked up. Nell rang off without leaving a message and looked at Dumbledore, steely-eyed.

"What's going on?"

He only shook his head. "Please gather your things."

She glared for a long moment, then turned and marched up to the bedrooms to pack.

Nell wasn't sure she had ever seen a London flat with a full fireplace. At least, there certainly were none in her price range.

Nonetheless, when they stepped out into the flat, Nell could immediately see through the windows that they were somewhere in downtown London.

It was a nice place, really. Nell could tell that if she hadn't desperately wanted to be somewhere else, she would have liked it. But all she wanted was to go find Emma and Audrey, and so the flat looked like a prison.

Dumbledore was, as expected, not any help. He showed them around the two bedrooms, kitchen, and lounge, beaming, then bowed and headed toward the fireplace.

"If you should need to contact me, simply take some Floo powder from this flowerpot, throw it into the fire, and say my name. I will either Floo in or simply firetalk with you," he said offhandedly.

"Firetalk?" Nell inquired, heartily sick of the peculiar ways in which people kept coming and going around here.

"I'm told it's quite an odd sight for those who aren't used to it -- you'll see my head in the flames. It's a bit like a Muggle telephone call, I believe."

Nell nodded. Just as odd as she'd expected.

"And now, I'm afraid, I must take my leave of you. Do try to be careful, my dear," he said cheerfully, and Flooed away ("Hogsmeade!").

Nell sat down next to Harry on the sofa, and they sat in silence for a long minute.

Finally she turned to him, just as he turned to her. Their eyes met, and suddenly they were laughing. Nothing particularly funny had happened, but the stress of the situation and the rapid changes in their lives had left them both with an extreme sense of unreality. They laughed until their sides ached, until they were on the verge of tears.

When the last chuckle had died away, Nell unearthed a pack of cards from the sideboard. "Might as well pass the time," she said philosophically. "Unless you want to revise a little for school? No, I didn't think so," she said as Harry shook his head emphatically.

Cards palled, as did the colouring books. Nell was into the second chapter of The Wind in the Willows, found on a well-stocked bookshelf, when she heard a faint POP outside the front door, and someone started knocking roughly.

She and Harry looked at each other in alarm. Dumbledore hadn't mentioned anyone coming by.

Nell cautiously made her way to the door. She looked out the peephole, but before she even had a chance to see who was there, the person had reached for the doorknob and begun to push open the door.

The hinges creaked, Nell noted semi-hysterically, as she backed away from the approaching intruder.

"Harry, go to your room," she hissed over her shoulder.

He shook his head stubbornly, eyes fixed on the slow movement of the door.