The Last Hogsmeade Visit
Chapter 30
Sunday, October 6
"So, Greyback is actively working for the Death Eaters," stated Dumbledore resignedly from his place in the headmaster's chair.
Dumbledore had sent Fawkes to Potter Manor, requesting Sirius to come to Hogwarts as he was unable to come over himself. Sirius had been perplexed; Dumbledore usually came over to Potter Manor to discuss. But he understood his reason, once he actually laid eyes on Dumbledore. He was tired and looking older than Sirius had seen him.
Sirius had wasted no time in telling Dumbledore what had happened at the Abbotts'.
"Yes," said Sirius sharply, loosening the ascot knot on his necktie. "I don't understand why Remus still hasn't come back if Greyback is a lost cause."
"Greyback may be the leader of the pack, but there are other werewolves that Remus must try to convince against joining Greyback and in turn, Voldemort," said Dumbledore, leaning back on his armchair in his office. It was a little disconcerting to have a desk between them as Sirius had gotten quite used to the informal environment in which he had been meeting Dumbledore for the past couple of months.
Sirius huffed in annoyance but did not disagree with him. The werewolves always aligned with Voldemort just like during the last war. With the way the Ministry ostracized them, he couldn't blame them. But there might be some like Remus, who would wish to help in the fight against Voldemort. Maybe.
"What's next? Where do you think we must search for the Horcruxes?" said Sirius, leaning forward placing his elbows on the desk.
"Currently, I am researching some possible locations where Tom might have kept a Horcrux," said Dumbledore. "Once I am sufficiently convinced I have found a possible location, I shall inform you when we can make a visit."
"The Order is getting increasingly curious about where you're off to," said Sirius, with a frown.
After their visit to Albania, Sirius had been injured during the attack on the Abbotts and was told to take it easy for a week. He knew Dumbledore was still leaving Hogwarts without him for his 'research', but the others were getting very interested to know what Dumbledore was hiding from them.
Dumbledore chuckled. "Yes. I did hear Hestia's suppositions on what you had been doing during your absence as well."
Sirius snorted before continuing, "Johnson told us the Minister himself is trying to have Aurors tail you. That's why there's two more trainees, including Johnson, to the security team around Hogwarts."
Dumbledore sighed. "Scrimgeour was very upset after your meeting. Now that he knows you will not allow Harry to stand by him and the Ministry, he has become much interested in my whereabouts when I'm not in Hogwarts."
"In some ways, Scrimgeour seems to be no better than Fudge," said Sirius, scowling.
Dumbledore did not reply, but merely inclined his head, which in itself, spoke volumes on his opinion about Scrimgeour.
"What was so important that you called for me here anyway?" asked Sirius, curiously.
Dumbledore leaned back in his chair. "Severus tells me that the Death Eaters have a fledgling idea to attack the Longbottoms. Augusta has been vocal about her opinion of them since last summer and they plan to retaliate in an attempt to threaten her."
"Did he say anything about when this attack would happen?" asked Sirius, his eyes narrowed.
"No," said Dumbledore and Sirius rolled his eyes. Trust Snape to leave out the details. "Nothing has been decided yet. But it is imperative that the Longbottoms be on their guard. You need to inform Alastor and get the Order to plan for their protection."
Sirius sighed exasperatedly. "We really need more members in the Order, do you know that? Half of them are busy because of their jobs and the rest are not properly trained up yet."
"Recruitment is an option," said Dumbledore, with a nod, "but I do not expect an influx of members rushing to join the cause. Being an Order member does paint a rather large target on your head."
"You don't see us running away from that threat," said Sirius, irritably.
"And you are better men and women than the rest for that very reason," said Dumbledore, beaming with something akin to pride.
"Does being a better man excuse me from this stupid party?" said Sirius, nearly whining in annoyance as he tugged at his stupid necktie.
Dumbledore sighed for the umpteenth time before covering his eyes with his blackened hand. "You yourself told me the Aurors are keeping an eye on where I go and what I am doing, Sirius. Do you not think it will be rather suspicious if you visit Hogwarts at this time? They will easily make the connection that you are meeting with me and you too will be in the Ministry's crossfire."
"I could be visiting Harry," pointed out Sirius.
"No parent is allowed on school premises unless visiting sick or injured students," said Dumbledore, reciting the school rule as if from rote memory.
"I could just hide around Hagrid's and leave when the party is over," said Sirius, pleadingly.
"You will need at least some eye-witnesses to prove you really were in Horace's party. Besides, I promised Horace you would be coming tonight," said Dumbledore with an air of someone of infinite patience borne out of years of being the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Fine!" said Sirius, scowling.
The portrait of Phineas Nigellus huffed. "I would never have indulged in such insolence, Dumbledore, even if it was from my great-great-grandson."
"And we all know you were the least popular headmaster for the very same reason," snapped Sirius, getting up from his chair.
"Have an enjoyable evening," said Dumbledore mildly as Sirius stomped out of the office.
Since it was almost evening, there weren't many students in the corridors and Sirius made sure to refrain from taking all of the shortcuts the Marauders had discovered during their school years. He was walking in a sedate manner, taking as much time as possible before he absolutely had to go to that dratted party of Slughorn's.
He was pleasantly surprised when he ran into Harry near the Entrance Hall. Harry was dressed in his red and gold Quidditch robes, his Captain's badge gleaming proudly. He was holding his Firebolt over his shoulder and heading towards the grounds with some members of his Quidditch team.
Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "Sirius? What are you doing here?"
"Hello, Harry." Sirius' face rested into an easy smile and Harry broke away from his team members and walked towards him. Ron and Ginny joined him too as they greeted Sirius, but the others lingered behind awkwardly.
"Why are you all dressed up?" said Harry, smirking. He glanced pointedly at Sirius, who had indeed been wearing pristine formal robes in navy blue.
"Slughorn's," said Sirius bluntly and with a grimace.
Harry sniggered. "Who made you do it?"
"Who else?" said Sirius, rolling his eyes and Harry nodded in understanding. Even he knew only Dumbledore had the ability to convince Sirius to attend such a pompous party against his will.
Sirius glanced at Harry's Quidditch team members lingering behind. "I reckon that is exactly why you seem to be having a Quidditch practice session at this time of the day."
Ginny snickered. "Harry's been scheduling all of our practices each time Slughorn sends out invitations. Poor Hermione, though!"
"It can't be that bad," said Ron, bemusedly.
"Trust me, it is," said Sirius, solemnly. "You'd rather listen to Binns drone on for an hour," he said to Ron before asking, "When have you got your first match? Who're you playing?"
"There's still a month to go, but we're playing against the Slytherins," said Ginny.
"Do make sure to kick some arse."
Ron and Ginny laughed when Harry said, "How about you guys start the practice? I'll be down in five minutes."
They left with goodbyes and joined the rest of the team as they headed for the grounds.
Harry turned to him after watching their retreating forms, "I've missed you."
Sirius smiled, clapping a hand on Harry's shoulder and steering him towards the outdoors. "It isn't the same at home without you."
"Really weird to wake up to a quiet common room," said Harry, wistfully.
Sirius led Harry out into the darkening grounds, the windows in the castle lit up at the late hour.
Harry asked, "How is Twitchet?"
"She's doing fine. Misses her Young Master," said Sirius fondly.
"What are you really doing here?"
"I came to see Dumbledore for some Order business," explained Sirius. "But the Aurors outside report to Scrimgeour and I needed to have some excuse for my visit. That's why Dumbledore suggested I go to Slughorn's party, so I'll have a good reason to be here."
"He'll be thrilled," said Harry, rolling his eyes.
"Wotcher, Harry!"
Harry started in surprise when he saw Tonks walking up to them, who was dressed up somewhat formally in magenta robes.
"Tonks!" Harry exclaimed, "Wait… are you going to Slughorn's party too?"
Sirius replied, "I asked her to accompany me. I'd hate to have nobody I know there except old Sluggy. It's not like I'm some successful Ministry worker that Slughorn gets to show off, is it?"
"Are you kidding me?" asked Tonks, raising both her eyebrows. "You're the talk of the town! I'll bet a galleon he has eyes on nobody but you."
"That's why I have you," said Sirius, bluntly. "You'll be the distraction I need when things get uncomfortable."
"Wow, way to make me feel appreciated," said Tonks, pressing her lips.
"That's Remus' job not mine!"
"Are you still having problems with your Metamorphmagus transformations?" asked Harry
"Well, it's not like I can control how I feel, is it?" she said, pushing a strand of her mousy brown hair behind her ear.
"I'll better be off, Sirius," said Harry. "Practice started ten minutes ago."
Sirius smiled wanly. "Of course. See you later."
Tonks waved at him. "Bye, Harry."
"Have a great night, you two!" Harry said over his shoulder as he hurried out to the darkening grounds.
"That's not happening," muttered Sirius.
Tonks rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but will you lighten up? It can't be that bad!"
oOo
Saturday, October 12
Their first trip of the term to Hogsmeade arrived.
Dressed in his new winter clothes, Harry made his way down to the common room along with Ron, where they caught up with Hermione to head down for breakfast. Just then, Ginny came up to him. "Hey, Harry, I'm supposed to give you this."
It was a scroll of parchment with Harry's name written upon it in familiar thin, slanting writing.
"Thanks, Ginny… It's Dumbledore's next lesson!" Harry told Ron and Hermione, pulling open the parchment and quickly reading its contents.
"Monday evening!" He felt suddenly light and happy. Harry had been worried that Dumbledore had forgotten all about his lessons since he was almost always absent. It was good to know that despite whatever Dumbledore was busy with, his lessons were going ahead.
The walk into Hogsmeade was not enjoyable. It was freezing with snow falling heavily on them.
"Let's go to the Three Broomsticks," said Harry. "It'll be warm."
They entered and Harry went towards the bar to get themselves some butterbeer when Ron and Hermione found seats.
He was surprised to find Tonks again with the same mousy brown hair, sitting on a stool and clutching a bottle of firewhiskey.
"Now, this seems familiar," said Harry and Tonks looked around. She cracked a small smile at the sight of him.
"Wotcher, Harry! We need to stop meeting like this," she agreed with a nod.
"What are you doing here, Tonks?"
"Oh, didn't you know? I'm part of the Auror team stationed outside Hogwarts."
Hermione hurried over when she noticed it was Tonks and greeted her too. Harry continued the thread of conversation, "How many Aurors are there over here?"
"There's me, Dawlish, Proudfoot and Savage. We work in shifts," said Tonks before standing up and downing the rest of the bottle in one. "I better go. It's already been five minutes since my shift started. I'll see you around, you two."
Harry noticed that she was moodier than she had been when he had last seen her with Sirius and wanted to ask her what was wrong. But, Hermione was with him and Tonks had already hurried out of the shop anyway. They grabbed the butterbeer and headed back to the table Ron had saved for them.
"Was that Tonks? What is she doing in Hogsmeade?" asked Ron as he grabbed a warm bottle from them and took a large gulp.
"She's part of the Auror team outside Hogwarts," answered Harry.
"She seemed a bit down," said Hermione, frowning.
"Uh, really? I didn't notice that," said Harry, trying to keep from fidgeting.
"I think… I think it has something to do with Sirius," said Hermione slowly, as if she was revealing a big secret.
"What do you mean?" said Harry, quickly.
"Sirius was here last week, wasn't he? I saw him in Slughorn's party. He…uh, he—"
"He—what?" prompted Harry, impatiently.
Hermione grimaced before speaking very quickly. "I saw him making out with Gwenog Jones!"
Ron spat out his butterbeer in disbelief. Coughing, he said incredulously, "Blimey! The Gwenog Jones? Captain of—"
"The Holyhead Harpies, yes. Slughorn introduced us to her. Personally, I thought she was a bit full of herself, but—"
"I don't get it! What's that got to do with Tonks?" said Harry, confused.
"Oh, don't be so thick, Harry! How would Tonks feel if Sirius left with Gwenog Jones when it was actually her that he brought on a date?" snapped Hermione.
"Why would Tonks feel anything?" asked Harry, feeling very dumb.
"Because she fancies him!" exclaimed Hermione as if it was the most obvious conclusion.
There was a pause when Harry blinked, before roaring in laughter. A couple of people turned to look and Harry tried to quieten himself in vain. "That is definitely not what's happening!"
Hermione looked offended at Harry's quick dismissal and continued waspishly, "I hate to break it to you, but it's almost pure-blood tradition to marry their cousins, so—"
"Tonks is not in love with Sirius. Because she actually loves Remus!" exclaimed Harry, still amidst gasps of laughter.
"What?" blurt out Hermione incredulously. Ron stared back and forth between them, mouth slightly agape, his half-empty butterbeer forgotten.
"She came over after we went to Diagon Alley," said Harry. "That's when I knew she liked Remus. She was really upset because Remus left on an Order mission and broke up with her."
"Oh!" said Hermione, stunned. She punched Harry on his shoulder. "Well, you could have told that earlier, you prat!"
"It's not my place to tell," said Harry. "You won't tell this to anyone else, will you? Remus wouldn't want others to know."
"Of course, we won't!" said Hermione, firmly.
"But," interjected Ron, "that means Sirius snogged the Gwenog Jones. I wonder if they —"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence, Ronald Weasley!" exclaimed Hermione shrilly, pointing a threatening finger at him.
They left the Three Broomsticks after that and were heading back to the castle just behind Katie Bell and her friend, discussing Tonks and Remus.
They were distracted when loud voices came from two girls, one of which was Katie Bell, walking in front of them. Harry squinted at their indistinct figures. The two girls were having an argument about something Katie was holding in her hand. "It's nothing to do with you, Leanne!" Harry heard Katie say.
Leanne made to grab hold of the package Katie was holding; Katie tugged it back and the package fell to the ground.
At once, Katie rose into the air gracefully, her arms outstretched. Her hair was whipped around her by the fierce wind, but her eyes were closed and her face was quite empty of expression. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Leanne had all halted in their tracks, watching.
Then, six feet above the ground, Katie let out a terrible scream. Leanne screamed too and tried to tug her down. The three of them hurried to help, when she crumpled into a heap below them, writhing.
Quickly, Harry went to get help and was relieved when he spotted Hagrid and told him what had happened. Hagrid carried her back to the castle while Hermione tried to console Leanne, who seemed to be sobbing. She told them that it had happened just as soon as she had touched the thing inside the package. Harry noticed the open package lying a few feet away from them – it was an ornate opal necklace which gave off a greenish glow that Harry vaguely remembered seeing in Borgin and Burke's four years ago.
Harry bundled it into his scarf and carried it back to school to give to the teachers, his mind working furiously. One thing was clear to him – this was Malfoy's doing.
oOo
Katie Bell had been moved to St. Mungos's by that evening and the entire school learnt of what had happened. Harry had relayed his suspicions about Malfoy to Professor McGonagall since Dumbledore was away yet again. He was sorely disappointed when none of them, including Ron and Hermione, shared the same views as himself.
So, he went to the only person who would believe him.
On Saturday night, Harry closed the curtains around his four-poster bed and cast a non-verbal spell, Muffliato, one of the Half-blood Prince's invention, which he had found to be very useful when having conversations and didn't want others to listen in.
He pulled out his mirror and called for Sirius, whose face appeared within moments.
Sirius frowned on seeing Harry's face. "What's wrong?"
Harry immediately told him what happened in Hogsmeade to Katie Bell and also how he thought it was Malfoy. Sirius was still frowning. "Did you tell this to Professor McGonagall?"
"Yes, she said it can't have been Malfoy because he was in school at that time doing detention," said Harry, scowling. "But, that's stupid. He could easily have used an accomplice, right?"
"Maybe. Do you know who she intended to give the package to?" asked Sirius, urgently.
"No. But, Voldemort might love to get rid of loads of people. Dumbledore or…"
"Slughorn," said Sirius. "Dumbledore reckons Voldemort might go after him. But what worries me is that if it really is Malfoy, he's not being particularly careful about who touches that necklace. It seems like it doesn't matter to him, who he finishes off along the way, as long as he gets his target. Has Malfoy behaved any weird at all to you, Harry?"
"I actually haven't had a one-on-one with him since start of term. Which is strange, now I think about it." Malfoy had always made his presence known whenever he had been in Harry's vicinity. Granted, being in sixth year they didn't share many classes, but the fact remained that he had not had the opportunity to observe Malfoy closely.
"I'll talk to Dumbledore," said Sirius. "But, something tells me it's no use unless we have some solid evidence to say it really is Malfoy."
Harry knew that to be true, but he didn't necessarily like it. He switched topics. "Where is Dumbledore? Why is he always leaving Hogwarts?"
Sirius looked pained. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you, Harry."
The frustration at being kept in the dark again must have shown on his face as Sirius hastened, "Look, I think you'll know sooner or later. Dumbledore might probably tell you himself during those private classes."
"It's got something to do with the Order isn't it?" probed Harry. He was already making a mental note to ask Dumbledore himself during the lesson on the following Monday.
"Quite right," said Sirius, nodding. "Now, you be careful and keep your eyes open. Make sure you have your cloak with you at all times. I'll see you later."
"Good night, Sirius," said Harry, somewhat dejectedly. Even though he felt better after talking to Sirius, he wished someone would take action soon. He always did hate the waiting game.
