Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 4- Truth Be Told

The next two days passed rather uneventfully. Same usual boring Dursley routine. Harry was relieved to get a letter from Ron after many hours of listening to their TV set on the 'exciting' debate channel.

Harry-

How has your summer been? You'll be glad to know that mum and dad said we can pick you up in a couple weeks for the rest of the summer.

See you soon,

-Ron

Harry glanced over the letter and felt rather oddly disappointed. He had just met Whitney and he only had a couple weeks more to get to know her. He would have to keep in touch somehow, but the only way to keep in touch at Hogwarts was by owl post. She would certainly think that was weird. Maybe if they got to be close enough friends he could tell her. But not yet.

The next day, the weather was the same muggy and overcast weather they had had recently. Harry looked out the window to see that a misty fog had settled over Privet Drive. This wasn't going to bring his mood down as today Whitney's parents were on a business day trip and he'd be alone with her.

He knocked on her door at about 11:30 after he had seen her parents pull out of the driveway. "Hi, Harry," she said sweetly. "Come on in."

Her house looked quite nice. There were a few boxes here and there but they had already unpacked most of their things. "Would you like anything to drink?" she asked sitting down next to him on the couch. "No thanks, not right now."

They sat in another one of their occasional silences. "I'm very glad you came over, Harry. I would have been quite bored," she said after a while. "No, I should thank you for giving me an excuse to get out of that house," Harry said. She giggled at this comment. He loved hearing her laugh.

They sat and talked to each other for awhile. First about muggle sports, the about Whitney's home, Wisconsin, and then about all the strange happenings lately. "I've never heard of a hurricane coming on so fast. Or of a perfectly stable bridge just collapsing into the river. And I've never heard of fog hanging around for so long, not even in England's usual weather. And it's all been happening just recently. Strange isn't it?" she asked. "Yeah, really," Harry said, pretending as if he didn't know.

Gradually they got into deeper and deeper conversations. After talking about all of Whitney's friends and how much she missed them, Harry told her about his. "Ron's my best friend. He's got quite a sense of humor. Hermione's another really close friend of mine. She's probably the most intelligent person our age I've ever met. She keeps Ron and I in good order." "I would love to meet them sometime," she said. "Yeah, I'll introduce you to them…sometime or another," Harry said. She smiled at him and looked deep into his eyes. "I've told you before, but I honestly think you have the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen," she said quietly. "Erm- thanks," he said. Before he could stop himself he told her what he was thinking ever since he first saw her. "I think you're the most beautiful person I've ever seen." She looked quite shocked and then her cheeks turned scarlet. "Thank you," she said quietly.

There was really nothing more to say. Whitney improvised by commenting on the weather after a few minuets. "It's so gray out. Is it always like this?" she asked him. "No not always, a lot though," Harry said. "It's getting kind of chilly, even in here," she said. "Yeah," Harry said his suspicions rising. He recognized this sudden feeling of cold air and it was only getting colder. "What is it, Harry?" she asked looking over at him. "I'm just thinking," he said. It suddenly got quite cold. "Hmm, I think the A/C's broken or something," she said.

Then it hit him. He stood up abruptly startling her. "Do you, er, want to go to my house?" he asked her trying to sound calm. I have to get my wand and then maybe we can escape on my broomstick. "Is something wrong? Are you ok?" she asked standing up. "Yeah I'm fine," Harry said glancing over at the window. It was slowly icing up. Whitney glanced at the window, too. "Wow, it's really cold…" she said. "Whitney, don't panic but we have to get out of here," Harry said.

He grabbed her hand and took her out through the back. Once outside, Harry noticed it had gotten particularly dark. Then he realized as he looked up to the sky that the overall darkness wasn't because of cloud cover. The sky was crowded with an entire fleet of Dementors. "What are those things, Harry?" Whitney asked tentatively. "Dementors, very foul creatures. We've got to get to my house quickly."

Through all the mess of thoughts running through his mind, he wondered how Whitney could see the Dementors. She's a muggle, so that would make it impossible! It was no time to think on that now as the Dementors were starting to spread out.

He lead her over to the back gate and unlatched it. Just as he was heading over to his house he saw a group of Death Eaters standing in the street. Most having there hoods up but one did not. Lucius Malfoy? How did he escape Azkaban? "We're going to have to go around back. We can't let them see us," Harry told her quietly.

They crawled behind the bushes along side Whitney's fence that adjoined Harry's. Harry quickly unlatched his gate and pulled her through with him.

They walked up to Harry's back door and he banged on it trying to get the Dursley's attention. "Come on!" Harry said through clenched teeth as it was certainly taking them awhile to get to the door. He then saw Uncle Vernon peek his head through the kitchen door, his old rifle in hand. "Oh, it's only you!" he said, exasperated. He walked up and let the two of them in.

"Where have you been boy? In case you haven't noticed a whole group of your lot is hovering around here!" he said in an annoyed, muffled tone.

Harry ignored him and ran up to his room with Whitney. "Whitney, while I'm getting everything packed up I'm going to tell you, and you have to understand that…all those strange things happening, it's because of wizards. Evil wizards. Yes there is such thing," Harry said to her strange expression. "I- I'm a wizard," Harry continued, grabbing some parchment and a pen. He scribbled out a note and tied it to Hedwig's leg. "Take this to the Weasley's, fast, and be careful," he told her. She hooted and took off out the window. Carefully looking out he saw that the Death Eaters had begun to spread out.

Harry turned around and faced Whitney. He didn't really know what to say to her. "I don't have that much time to explain this to you, but, really quickly, there are good wizards, and bad ones. I'm a good one, so you can still trust me. But those people out there are evil, and you especially have to stay away from them. They hate muggles," he said. She gave him a questioning look. "Er- non magical people. You're a muggle. And that's not bad of course, but there's a big controversy about that and-"

They heard banging on the door downstairs. Then three unfamiliar voices drifted upstairs. "It's them. We have to get out, now!" Harry said. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley then burst into his room. "They're downstairs, Harry! Do something!" Aunt Petunia wailed. They then heard a loud crack and saw that Mr. Weasley had just apparated into Harry's now very crowded bedroom.

"Where are they, Harry?" he asked. "Downstairs, sir," Harry replied. "Alright then, we're going to have to do some serious side along apparition then. I see you've got quite a crew with you," Mr. Weasley said. "I'll have to take you two at a time. Harry grab your things," he said. "Take Dudley first!" Aunt Petunia insisted. "Alright then, who else?" Mr. Weasley said glancing around. "Whitney you go," Harry said. She looked a little hesitant. "I promise you'll be fine," he assured her. "Yes I'll be taking you to safety. We've already got Aurors coming out here," Mr. Weasley said.

Mr. Weasley told Whitney and Dudley to grab hold of his arms tightly and not let go until they got there. They heard another loud crack and they were gone.

The voices were getting closer now. "I think there in here," said one. Harry dashed to the door and whispered a spell to lock it. A couple seconds later they tried the door. "It's locked," someone said. Another loud crack and Mr. Weasley was back. "What was that?" said another voice outside. "Sounds like someone apparating."

"You take them," Harry whispered gesturing toward his Aunt and Uncle. "I can fight them." "Are you mad, Harry? I'm going to have to try and take you all. "They're in there! Just unlock the door you imbecile!" said one of the Death Eaters in the hall. Harry already had his trunk in one hand and Hedwig's cage under his arm. "Alright all of you, hold on tight said Mr. Weasly.

Harry grabbed hold of Mr. Weasley's arm and then they apparated. It felt as though he were being pulled through a tight rubber tube, getting tighter and more constricting and then it let go…

The Weasley's kitchen materialized in front of them. "Harry! I'm so glad you're alright!" Mrs. Weasley ran up and hugged him. She let go after a little while and Harry was relieved to see that every one had made it here safely. The Weasley's were seated at the table, Hermione and her parents were sitting on the stairs, and Dudley and Whitney stood to the side looking a bit confused.

"I heard that the Death Eaters and Dementors were in your area and I was so worried!" Hermione said, getting up from her seat on the stairs and hugging Harry as well. He glanced over through Hermione's thick hair to see Whitney giving her a smug look. 'It's ok,' he mouthed to her.

Hermione went and sat back down with her parents and Harry took Whitney over to the table and sat down next to Ron. "So who's this?" Ron asked, his eyes darting from Whitney to Harry. "This is my-er-girlfriend, Whitney. Whitney, this is Ron, I've told you about him." "Pleasure to meet you," she said reaching her across Harry to shake Ron's.

"Luckily, no dodgy people have been coming around here so we're safe," Ron said after Harry retold what had happened. "Harry," Whitney said quietly. "Yeah," he said turning toward her. "What about my parents? And my baby brother?" she said looking very worried. "What area of England did they go to?" Harry asked. "Mom and Dad went to London and they left my brother at the babysitters house right around the corner from our house so I didn't have to watch him," she said.

Harry thought about this. "Mr. Weasley?" he asked. "What parts of England did they attack?" "Surrey and Oxford," he replied. "But they're branching out." "So anyone in London is ok?" Harry asked. "They should be, yes."

Whitney looked relieved for a moment and then asked, "Still, there's my brother," she said. "I'm sure he's alright," Harry said reassuringly. "We'll go back and check on everything tomorrow," Mr. Weasley said. "But for now you had better get some rest."

So everyone went upstairs and rested up for the next day.

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EnglandGirl8990