Harry Potter was safe at his Aunt and Uncle's house in Surrey, but Hermione and Ron were hiding out together at Grimmauld place. They were sitting on his bed, playing a game of wizard chess, and Ron, for once, was losing.
He wasn't doing it on purpose, but for some reason he couldn't get his mind off of other things.
Hermione moved.
I know Mum's down in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner, and she'll take the back stairs up to bed, thought Ron.
"Aha," said Hermione. "What's the matter with you today, Ron? You never lose wizard's chess."
Dad's at the Ministry, and he won't be back until midnight, probably, thought Ron. "Oh yeah…I'm just distracted, I suppose."
"Hmmm," said Hermione. She moved again, and one of her knights destroyed another pawn.
Fred and George are in town, thought Ron. "When do you reckon Dumbledore will come let Harry stay?" he asked out loud.
"Soon, I guess," said Hermione, inspecting her players. "It feels like a long time since we've seen him."
The reality was that Hermione and Ron had little to talk about when Harry was not around. Hermione, as always, had Ginny to talk to, but Ron had close to no one. It had always been this way, however, because Fred and George had never been keen on letting him in on their schemes and Percy was just plain boring.
"Hermione?" asked Ron. It had been a boring summer for both of them; Ginny had been extra moody. "What'd you suppose Harry will say when he gets back? You know—about Sirius and all?"
She shrugged. "Who knows?"
Moody, Lupin, and Tonks all left this morning, thought Ron. Why am I thinking this? thought Ron. Who cares?
But in reality, Hermione was thinking along the same lines.
Ginny's asleep, she thought. Mrs. Weasley's the only problem; she might come up the stairs to leave laundry in here or something.
Hermione was way better at thinking about two things at once, which is why she was winning.
"I hope he's not so moody," said Ron. "Always yelling at us and everything."
"Give him a break, Ron," Hermione bossed. "He's had a difficult life."
"I still don't see why he should take it out on us," Ron argued. "We know it's been difficult, but we believe him and we've always been there for him. Last year he was worse than a pregnant woman on steroids, always yelling at everything and hitting things—"
"He was attacked by Voldemort, Ronald," said Hermione. Ron noted the use of his full name—Hermione only did that when she was annoyed with him. "And watched Cedric die—"
"Well, I'm just saying!" said Ron. "The two of us have just as good of a chance of dying in this war; he shouldn't take it out on us."
"Whatever," she said, and her queen knocked out his knight. Mr. Weasley's at the Ministry; he won't be back until midnight, she thought.
"What has Ginny's problem been?" asked Ron. "She started an argument with mum yesterday for no reason."
"She's upset about Dean," said Hermione stiffly. She was still sore about their argument a few seconds before. "She's afraid that he's cheating on her."
"How could he do that?" Ron wondered aloud. "He lives at least six miles from everything."
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she's being paranoid."
"I guess," thought Ron.
Ginny's in her room, asleep, thought Hermione. Lupin, Tonks, and Moody left this morning.
"What's the matter with you today?" Hermione asked him. "You're losing terribly. You're not letting me win, are you?"
"No," said Ron. "I'm just—my mind is somewhere else. I was thinking."
"Oh," said Hermione, wondering what he was thinking about. "Well stop it, because you're losing terri—"
But Hermione's words were cut off, because Ron was very suddenly and very violently kissing her. It took her a moment to process this, and then she was kissing him too, and they were kissing each other, and somehow the wizard chess was no longer in between them and Harry was the farthest thing from both of their minds.
Mrs. Weasley, however, had not taken the back stairs up to bed, and was lugging a huge basket of laundry up towards the smaller bedrooms. Ginny, as always, was in her room, but Mrs. Weasley couldn't figure out what happened to Hermione.
Hermione and Ron both heard a footstep creak the old floorboard outside Ron's room.
"Bloody hell," whispered Ron. They were both very out of breath.
"Ouch," said Hermione, pulling herself out from underneath Ron. She tossed herself under the bed, where she gasped at a large, old, broken statue of a gargoyle.
"Shhh…" hissed Ron.
Molly Weasley came into the room, looking stressed.
"Did you know that there's a painting of Sirius and his brother out in the hallway?" asked Mrs. Weasley cheerily. "I thought all the pictures of Sirius were taken down. I brought your laundr—how did your chess set get all over the place?"
She was staring at the scattered pieces.
"Oh, erm…Hermione got mad at me, and she hit it, and it went everywhere," said Ron quickly.
"I see," said Molly disapprovingly. "Well, pick it up. I'm going to leave this by your wardrobe."
Ron jumped off the bed and carefully collected all the pieces. While he was crouching, he accidentally caught Hermione's eye and they both blushed.
"Alright then," said Molly. "I'm going to bed; your father shouldn't be in until late. If you see Hermione, tell her not to throw things."
Molly Weasley kissed him on the cheek and patted the top of his head. With a snap, the door closed.
"Fantastic, Ron," said Hermione from under the bed. "Now she thinks I throw things."
"Well, would you prefer she know the truth?" asked Ron, pulling her up.
Hermione's face was very red. "No," she said shortly. "I'm going to go to bed," she said coldly, and started to walk towards the door.
Ron grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward him and they we kissing each other again. It was the sort of display that would have made Harry sick, but this is natural, because it was his two best friends. Ginny, being the smart girl that she was, knew exactly what was going on, and was greatly disturbed. She was a very light sleeper, and she knew that Hermione suddenly showing up at three in the morning could only mean one horrible, disgusting thing. She couldn't, however, say that she was really surprised.
Miles and miles away, someone was rapping on Harry Potter's door.
The Boy Who Lived sat up in his bed, endlessly tired, grumbling, and hungry.
"What?" he spat at the door impatiently.
His aunt and uncle slid into the room, looking angry. Aunt Petunia hadn't seen Harry's room in weeks, and she looked completely horrified.
"There's someone at the door," said Uncle Vernon pompously, although there was an obvious fear tingeing in his voice. "We thought you should get it."
Harry squinted at the clock. It was only 3:30, so he guessed that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon thought only his kind would show up at that time of the night. In reality, he hadn't been expecting anyone and he didn't know who it was now.
"Right, fine, I'll get it," said Harry. It was ridiculous that he was braver at sixteen than the both of them at forty-something years old. Actually, he wasn't entirely sure he knew how old either of them were. He grabbed his wand and slid down the stairs as quietly as he could.
Harry held is wand out nervously and swung the door open. He didn't think Voldemort would stroll right up to his Aunt's house, but he was wary nonetheless.
"No need for that, Potter," said a growling voice. It was Moody.
"Moody?" Harry asked. "Is that you?"
"Of course it is," said Moody, and he strolled right into the house. He couldn't have been more out of place.
Upstairs, Harry heard Petunia gasp at his appearance.
"Better get your things ready, Potter," said Moody. "I'm taking you to the Order. Lupin will be here in a few seconds, and we'll accompany you."
Harry wasn't entirely sure he should trust this Moody. He had, after all, been tricked before.
"Well, get a move on," said Moody. "What's the matter? Are you worried it isn't me?"
Harry said nothing.
"Here, ask me a question only I would know," growled the man.
Harry thought for a moment.
"What's the shrieking painting's name?" asked Harry blandly.
"Ah," said Moody. "Old Mrs. Black."
Harry was comfortable with this answer and ran back up the stairs to collect his things from their scattered places all about the room. He packed quickly, hoping he had everything, and ran back down the stairs to where Moody was still standing.
There was another rap on the door. Harry answered it, and was happy to find Lupin.
"Everything ready, then?" asked Lupin. "Alright, let's get a move on."
The three men walked into the street and Harry grabbed onto Moody's arm. They apparated out, and suddenly they were standing at Number 12, Gimmauld Place.
"Lupin?" asked Harry. "Why did you come so late?"
"Had to, Harry," said the man. "It had to be random. Moody and I only decided on it tonight."
"Oh."
Harry collected his things and went upstairs. He went into his room at Grimmauld place and lay down on his bed, falling asleep instantly.