Harry Potter - Vengeance and Wrath: The Rise of The Dark Lord

- CHAPTER FIVE -

Death and Destruction

Harry woke early the next morning with Pigwidgeon twittering excitedly in his ear. The sun was streaming through a chink in the curtains and outside the bedroom door he heard the distinct sound of people running up and down the stairs. It was obviously time to get up. As Harry threw off the itchy brown blanket that covered him, there was a knock on the door.

'Come on, boys.' Mrs. Weasley's voice called through the wooden door. 'There's a meeting for the Order today, so if you want some breakfast, I suggest you get some now.'

Harry pulled some clothes out of his trunk and threw them on hurriedly, before racing downstairs to the basement kitchen. Hermione and Ginny were already sitting at the table when Harry got there.

'Hi, Harry!' said Ginny, looking up from her bowl of cereal. 'Where's Ron?'

'Still upstairs. He was just getting out of bed when I left.' Harry replied, grabbing a piece of toast.

'Well he'd better hurry up.' said Hermione impatiently. 'The meeting's starting soon, and I expect that the Order won't want any of us hanging around when they have important matters to discuss.'

'Plus, he's the only one of us who has Extendable Ears!' Ginny added with a smile.

Harry grinned, remembering the invention of Fred and George's that they had used last year to hear what was going on when the adults were in meetings. The Ears had worked quite well until Mrs. Weasley had found out about them and put an Imperturbable Charm on the kitchen door.

'I thought we could continue with the S.P.E.W campaign after breakfast.' Hermione said, buttering her toast.

'Not that again.' Ron mumbled, walking into the kitchen and helping himself to some muffins.

Hermione gave him a dark look, but didn't retaliate.

'Have you got the Extendable Ears, Ron?' Ginny asked anxiously.

'I'll find them after breakfast.' replied Ron, his mouth full with muffin.

'I wouldn't waste my time, Ron.' said Percy as he entered the room. 'I will, of course, be putting a charm on the door so that non-members can't hear what's being said.'

'We would be members if we were old enough.' Ginny remarked angrily.

'But you're not old enough, are you?' Percy stated smugly.

Ginny's face fell.

'Now, if you don't mind, I need you to leave so I can make the room presentable for the other members.' he continued, ushering them out into the hallway.

'Git.' Ron muttered, once Percy was out of earshot. 'We're more a part of the Order than him. Percy didn't even believe You-Know-Who was back until a couple of months ago.' he raged.

Ron had a point, Harry thought angrily. It was unfair that they should be left in the dark about events that concerned them, just because of their age. After all that Harry had been through in his sixteen years, he felt that he should at least be kept informed with what was happening in the Wizarding world. And now that Sirius was gone, he doubted he'd ever find out what Voldemort was up to. It was as though the countless times he had come face to face with the Dark Lord meant nothing.

'Well, since we won't be able to use the Extendable Ears, we may as well get to work on the new campaign.' said Hermione eventually.

Harry could think of at least a hundred other things he'd rather be doing right now, and from the look on Ron's face, so could he. But he knew how important S.P.E.W was to Hermione, and he didn't want to upset her again after last night.

'Sure.' he agreed reluctantly, forcing a smile.

'Great!' Hermione beamed. 'There's lots of work to do, if you'd like to help, Ginny?' she added.

'Er..No thanks. I'm going to do some reading before we get back to school.' Ginny lied.

'OK.' Hermione replied, oblivious to her friend's lie. 'We'll be in the drawing room if you change your mind.'

Harry soundlessly tiptoed past the moth-eaten curtains that hid Mrs. Black's portrait, careful not to knock over the severed troll's leg umbrella stand, as he made his way to the stairs, followed by Ron, Hermione and Ginny. When they reached the first floor, Ginny headed to the room she shared with Hermione, and the others entered the drawing room.

Although Harry had been in the room the previous night, he hadn't noticed how clean and tidy it was until this morning. The moss-green velvet curtains, that had once been home to hundreds of Doxies, looked almost brand new, the once-grimy windows sparkled and all of the furniture gleamed. In fact, now he thought about it, the whole house was cleaner and tidier. The dank smell that had lingered in all the rooms the previous year had disappeared, the threadbare carpet had been repaired, and a lot of the old ornaments and portraits had gone. The members of the Order must have been hard at work.

'Where have all my notes gone?' Hermione yelled furiously. 'I left everything on the table last night, and now it's not there!'

'What a shame.' replied Ron sarcastically. 'Now we can't make dumb badges either.'

Hermione suddenly turned on Ron.

'It was you, wasn't it?' she cried angrily. 'You're always talking about how stupid my campaign is, and now you've... you've sabotaged it!'

'I did not! Did I, Harry?' Ron retorted.

'He's right, Hermione. It couldn't have been Ron, he left the room at the same time I did last night.'

'Well, it figures you would take his side.' Hermione retaliated. 'Maybe he did it this morning, Harry, did you even consider that? You took an awfully long time to get to breakfast, Ron. Thought you'd come and ruin my campaign first, did you? she spat.

'It wasn't me!' yelled Ron irately.

'Then who was it?' she screamed.

'Excuse me, Miss' a little voice called from the doorway, 'It was us.'

Hermione stared dumbfounded at the two house-elves standing nervously by the door.

'We're sorry, Miss' the other, smaller house-elf continued. 'We didn't think it was important.'

'Where...? Why...? What...?' Hermione spluttered incoherently.

'Hello, my name's Harry Potter, and these are my friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger.' said Harry politely.

'I'm Hogni.' said the larger house-elf, 'And this is my sister, Helgi' he said pointing to the smaller elf beside him.

'It is a pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter.' Helgi curtsied. 'Dobby tells us many great things about you.

'You know Dobby?' Harry asked, intrigued.

'Oh yes.' Helgi answered. 'It was because of him that we got our new job.'

'But wouldn't you rather be free?' said Hermione, suddenly finding her voice.

'We were free, after our Mistress died.' Hogni said sadly. 'But we wanted to work. House-elves like to work. Dobby told us that we should go and see Dumbledore, and he gave us both a job.'

'Dumbledore is a good Master.' Helgi added. 'We like working at Grimmauld Place.'

'And are you getting paid?' Hermione asked.

Hogni and Helgi burst into fits of laughter. Harry had never heard a house-elf laugh before, and found it very strange.

'House-elves should not be getting paid, Miss.' Helgi giggled. 'House-elves like to work.'

'But, Dobby gets paid.' Hermione sighed, exasperated.

'Well, between you and me,' Hogni began, lowering his voice to a whisper, 'Dobby is a little weird.'

Harry couldn't help but laugh.

'Well, I think someone owes me an apology.' Ron stated.

'Ummm, yeah. Sorry Ron.' replied Hermione. 'I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions.'

Harry heard the front door open downstairs, and moments later Ginny had appeared in the doorway.

'It's Tonks and Mad-Eye Moody.' she hissed, 'I'm going to see if I can hear anything interesting before they go into the meeting.'

She held up a pair of Extendable Ears.

'Where did you get those?' Ron questioned.

'Does it matter?' Ginny blushed. 'We're missing out on conversation!'

Harry, Ron and Hermione walked onto the stairs landing, but they didn't need Extendable Ears to hear what was being said below.

'Just waiting for Fred and George now.' Mr. Weasley's voice floated up the stairs.

'Where are they?' Mrs. Weasley sighed. 'I told them time and time again that the meeting was starting at 9 o'clock.'

'Molly, Arthur, we have some bad news. Perhaps you should sit down.' Tonks said softly.

'What's happened?' said Mrs. Weasley, panic in her voice.

'There's been an explosion in Diagon Alley.' Moody began. 'We're not sure if it's You-Know-Who's work, but a few shops have collapsed...'

'Do you know which shops?' Mr. Weasley asked, tears distorting his voice.

'No, but there have been three casualties. Two dead, and one critically injured.' Tonks explained.

Harry felt his insides tie into knots. Fred and George couldn't be dead. He'd seen them in Diagon Alley just the other day. Tonks' words swam around in his head; "...three casualties. Two dead, and one critically injured." Fred and George had been with Lee Jordan. "...three casualties. Two dead, and one critically injured." Harry tried to shake the thought from his mind, but it was as though it had been permanently etched onto his brain - just like Sirius' death...and Cedric Diggory's. Harry could hear Mr. and Mrs. Weasley crying in the hallway, but it seemed to become more and more distant. He was no longer aware of his surroundings. It was almost as if his mind had left Grimmauld Place and had left his body behind. He knew he should get back to Ron and Ginny, to make sure that they were OK, but he couldn't convince his mind to return to his body.

Suddenly, he was blinded by white hot pain. His head felt like it was about to explode from the intense throbbing of his scar. He desperately clutched his head, trying in vain to make the pain subside. But it was no use. He could feel his mind becoming more and more separate from his body, as a cold blackness engulfed him. He needed to get back. He had to get back. But he couldn't concentrate. The pain was making him dizzy.

The next thing he knew he was falling...