Two's Company

Chapter 55

He watched her cross to the door, when it was thrown open by the Muggle nurse again, who was carrying what seemed to be a rolled up sleeping bag.

"Here you go, sweetie," she said kindly, handing it over to a puzzled Demelza. "I thought you'd like something comfortable to sleep over with your brother. Have you eaten? Shall I get something for you while I get his food?"

Demelza looked anywhere but at Harry as she tried to answer, "Erm, no I—"

"That would be very kind of you, thanks," said Harry to the nurse, who beamed before leaving the room. He avoided Demelza's confused yet equally furious stare.

"Maybe, you should stay here after all," he said slowly, picking at a loose thread in his blanket and avoiding her eyes. "At least until I get out of here. I don't want to answer questions if the staff here realize you're not coming back."

She did not respond to him immediately, but when Harry caught her gaze, she moseyed her way back to the chair and sat down, sleeping bag still in her arms.

"I would have left anyway," stated Demelza, frostily, before her voice softened with a measure of uncertainty. "But, I don't know what I would do without any money at this hour of the night. Once you're up and about, I'm out of here."

Harry simply nodded. He could not possibly convey how wretched he felt for hurting her feelings without sounding like an idiot, so he let it be.

oOo

He was gliding along the pathway that led up to a house. He approached the front door and then saw his own long-fingered pale hand against the door. He knocked, excitement coursing through him.

The door was opened by a laughing woman, whose humour vanished and replaced with terror, as soon as she saw Harry's face.

"Gregorovitch?" Harry heard himself speak in a high, cold voice.

She shook her head and tried to close the door. His hand held it steady, preventing her from shutting it.

"I want Gregorovitch."

The woman was pleading in another language. Abandoning the attempt to close the door, she began to back away down the dark hall, and Harry followed, gliding toward her, and he had drawn his wand.

"Where is he?"

The woman was begging him…

"Harry?"

He felt no remorse when he raised his hand. She screamed and two young children came running into the hall.

"Harry!"

The woman tried to shield them with her arms when he could hear himself whisper, 'Avada Kedavra'. There was a flash of green light –

"WAKE UP!"

Harry's eyes shot open to see Demelza looking over at him with wide eyes. She jumped back in alarm with a shriek and Harry tried to sit up.

"What just happened to your—?" began Demelza, pointing a shaking hand at him. But she was cut off, when the door was opened by the night shift nurse who glared at them. "What's all the ruckus?"

Both Harry and Demelza exchanged appropriately chagrined glances, before Harry tried to placate the male nurse. "It was just a nightmare. We're sorry. Everything's fine."

The nurse shot another glare at Harry before shutting the door again. Harry closed his eyes in relief and sighed, rubbing his forehead. His scar was burning again.

He looked up to notice Demelza, still gawping at him. Harry supposed he must have scared her. "I'm sorry I woke you up, but I can't promise it won't happen again. I have them all the time."

Demelza whispered, "You just saw someone getting killed, didn't you?"

Harry was taken aback by her knowing sentence. Well, he was known to talk in his sleep, so it shouldn't be that surprising.

"Er — yes," finished Harry awkwardly. "I suppose I rambled out loud?"

Demelza shook her head. "I saw it in your eyes."

What?

Harry blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Green light!" said Demelza, her voice getting higher. "Like that of a killing curse. When you opened your eyes, I saw it!"

"I hate to break it to you, but my eyes are already green."

"But they glowed green!" insisted Demelza. "It was like watching you seeing a flash of green light that only you could see! I might be wrong, but I know of only one spell that could cause that."

Harry frowned. If Demelza was to be believed, (and he did believe her; he didn't think she would make it up) Harry was actually witnessing the scene as Voldemort did. Surprisingly, it did not scare him. It merely felt like a confirmation — a relief. He was not making these nightmares up, but these were rather real occurrences. He had known that of course, and Dumbledore had said as much, but he had been scared for most of his fifth year wondering if Voldemort was somehow transporting him without his knowledge and using him.

"But how could that be?" wondered Demelza aloud, unaware of his moment of catharsis. "You can't actually be watching someone getting killed for real?"

The way she said it, sounded like she thought it was a laughable idea.

"Of course not," said Harry, immediately before letting out a huge yawn. "I'm tired. Go back to sleep." He huddled into his bed again and Demelza reluctantly followed suit as she got back into her sleeping bag, still casting furtive glances at him.

Meanwhile, Harry was wondering if he should ask Twitchet to sneak him some of the Dreamless Sleep Potion by the next morning. If Demelza was going to be around when he was sleeping, he could not afford to have another episode like this and get her snooping around. Already, she had almost figured out what was up with him.

oOo

Friday, September 5

Morning rolled in and Demelza was up before him. She was still cross with Harry, but her anger was like ice in front of fire. She could not put up an annoyed front either, not when the Muggle nurse had taken a vested interest in both Harry and Demelza, and so, she had to act like a comforting sister.

Harry knew the Muggle nurse was only sympathizing because they were 'orphans'. He personally did not like the woman much as she was overly fussy, without any of Mrs. Weasley's familiarity. But Demelza had taken to the nurse, when she had given her a bar of chocolate to share with him.

Predictably, she did not share it with him.

Harry pretended to turn a blind eye when she ate it all by herself. But he did not think he had the right to be petty with her after what he had done, so he allowed her the little luxury after which she announced that she was going out for a walk.

Harry glanced up quickly. "Alone? Where?"

"I need to find someplace to stay. Once you're out of here within a couple of nights, I'd have to—"

"Hold your Hippogriffs!" exclaimed Harry, putting his hands up. "I'm out of here by tomorrow at the most."

He could somewhat put his weight on his leg as he had found that morning when he needed to visit the bathroom. He could recover completely back in the shack with Twitchet's help instead of here. It felt like he was too exposed and defenceless. The only reason he had for staying was for the good painkillers they gave him.

Demelza's lips thinned and she walked out of his room, thankfully not slamming any doors in frustration.

Harry did not feel too guilty, even though he knew he should probably apologize to her once she was back. He had not thought about where she would go next or what she would do, but Harry had no means to help her.

The door opened again and Harry raised an eyebrow in puzzlement. "Back so soon?"

Demelza glared at him, setting down the tray of hospital food she was carrying beside his table. "And I thought you were a gentleman?" she muttered, disgruntled. "I've already had lunch, thank you for asking."

Saying so, she left the room again.

But Harry was staring at the food laid out on the tray. There was cottage pie and some vegetables, clearly meant for lunch...

…When he had had his breakfast just minutes ago.

He suppressed a cold shiver. This was just like it had happened when he had visited The Archive.

Harry had lost hours, even days according to the librarian; his stomach turned to a swirling pit of fear when he could almost hear Ginny as if she had spoken to him just yesterday in the attic of Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place…

"…can you remember everything you've been doing? Are there big blank periods where you don't know what you've been up to?"

Yes, he could remember what he'd been doing. He'd been thinking about Demelza and wondering if he should apologize to her.

"…when he did it to me, I couldn't remember what I'd been doing for hours at a time. I'd find myself somewhere and not know how I got there."

But Harry didn't think he had been to a place unknowingly. When he had been in the Archive, Harry had only been reading. The only jarring realization was that it had only seemed like he had been reading for minutes while it had actually been hours. He didn't have blank periods of time in his mind. He could remember everything he had done, but his sense of time was completely off. What felt like minutes, was actually hours.

Harry did not rule out the possibility that he could be possessed though. Even though Dumbledore had told him that it would be extremely painful for Voldemort to attempt to do so again, Harry knew he had to be on his guard.

"What are you doing?"

Harry jumped, turning to find Demelza standing in the doorway, with narrowed eyes. Her hair was dishevelled and her dress was dirty in places.

"Have you been staring at your lunch since I left or something?"

Harry cleared his throat and blinked. He instinctively knew that it could be true. God, it had happened again, hadn't it?

"Not hungry," he lied, hoping she'd let him off. He needed some time to think for himself, to try to understand what could possibly be wrong with him.

Just then, the nurse entered his room to give him his medicine and their dinner. She checked his bandages and left the room.

"Thank you, Nurse Anne," Demelza said sweetly, before shutting the door.

"Have you found a place to stay yet?" asked Harry immediately, wordlessly signalling Demelza to discard his untouched lunch which she obliged.

"I found a bakery a few streets up from here," she said, sitting cross-legged on the floor and placing her tray of food on her lap. Harry followed suit and ate his rolls, realizing he was famished.

"The owner was too kind to let me stay for a few days, as long as I helped in the kitchen. It's the best I have for now. And," she added swallowing her food, "it's very close to the Leaky Cauldron. I'll be able to keep an ear out, just in case."

"Are you mad?" Harry burst out. "You need to go into hiding. Not hang around the Leaky Cauldron! That place could be swarming with Death Eaters."

"But, I will be hiding," insisted Demelza. "Nobody will think to look in a Muggle bakery of all places. And I won't exactly be using magic seeing as I'm still underage—"

"Of course you can use magic! You're not at home," said Harry, matter-of-factly.

"I don't fancy being Traced. I've heard all about it from Colin. And you should know better than that – you yourself went on trial for underage magic."

"Do you think I don't remember that?" asked Harry, raising an eyebrow. "That was different. Fudge wanted me on criminal trial instead of letting me off."

"And do you think the Ministry will let me off now?" Demelza raised an eyebrow challengingly. "When they wanted to send me off to Azkaban for something as simple as boarding the Hogwarts Express?"

"That's what I'm trying to say," growled Harry, running a hand through his hair in frustration. He set aside his food tray. "You're going to be sent to Azkaban whether you do magic or you don't."

Demelza frowned. "But, what about the Trace? Colin said the Ministry can track our exact location if we used magic while being underage…"

"No," said Harry, "they can't. It's a bit complicated to explain, but just know as long as you're not in your home or anywhere near it, you can use magic and get away with it with no one the wiser."

"I can?" Demelza ignored her food and pulled out her wand, gawking at it.

"Trust me, you can," nodded Harry. "I don't want you staying around Leaky Cauldron defenceless. If worse comes to worse, use your magic."

Demelza snapped up to meet Harry with an indignant expression. "I can fend for myself, thank you. You just worry about getting back to that shack tomorrow morning with that broken leg of yours."

"I have Twitchet," said Harry simply.

"That poor house-elf," said Demelza, shaking her head. "Having to deal with you. The perks of being Harry Potter, I suppose…"

"Twitchet has been with my family for years," said Harry, crossly. But she didn't seem to have heard him as she looked at him in open curiosity.

"What are you doing out here, Harry? I can get why you didn't go back to school, but shouldn't you be with your family?"

"That's none of your business," barked Harry, rubbing his scar which was prickling again.

"What is the matter with you?" shouted Demelza. "You're never this mad at me even during Quidditch practice!"

"This isn't bloody Quidditch!" yelled back Harry. "What's my business is mine. You stay away from it!"

"I don't know what's up with you but I'll be glad to get away from here first thing in the morning," said Demelza, heatedly.

"Good riddance."

Demelza was fuming, "I get why You-Know-Who wants to kill you now."

"Of course, Voldemort wants to kill me because he has no idea when to leave me alone!" Harry's voice had steadily grown louder and it was only a moment later that he realized Demelza had flinched on hearing…

his name.

Harry slapped his forehead in realization and swore, "Shit! Demelza give me your wand!"

He hurriedly pushed away his blanket and climbed out of his bed as fast as he could with his leg in a cast. Demelza cried, "So you can hex me? Who are you playing with, Potter?"

Before Harry could say anything, there was a knock on the door and it opened, bringing in an unfamiliar sandy-haired doctor. "Is everything alright?"

He was walking towards him and Harry's heart was hammering wildly. He willed himself to calm down lest the Muggles get suspicious. "Everything's fine! I was just having a word with my s—"

The next moment, the doctor had pulled out a wand and shouted a spell, causing Harry's bed to catch on fire. Harry had jumped away from it, a moment sooner and landed on his injured leg beside Demelza, who sprang up in a state of horrified shock.

The man aimed again at them and this time Harry was quick. He ducked away from the spell, pushing Demelza out of its reach and simultaneously summoned her wand out of her hand before he shouted, "Impedimenta!"

Taken by surprise, the jinx hit the man square in the chest and Harry saw the man fall. He quickly grabbed hold of Demelza and Disapparated.

The two of them crashed to the floor, Harry landing painfully on his injured leg.

"Wha-What just happened?" stuttered Demelza.

Harry groaned in pain and Demelza was quick to help him straighten his bandaged leg, while he mumbled, "How could I have forgotten? Sirius warned me and I didn't realize…"

He swore again in frustration and Demelza interrupted, "Can you bloody tell me what just happened now?"

"I said Vol—You-Know-Who's name!"

"So?"

"So," explained Harry, with all the patience he could muster, "that's how that Death Eater found us. There's a curse on that word. If we were to speak it out loud, they'll track our exact location."

Demelza's eyes widened and she put a hand to her mouth, speaking through it. "What if they followed us here?"

"They won't," he said confidently. He prayed she did not hear his muttered "I hope."

Harry pushed himself up, leaning heavily on his uninjured leg. "But, we need to be ready to leave in a moment's notice, just in case. Twitchet!"

Twitchet appeared, not announcing her presence when she bowed to him, indicating clearly that she was still upset with Harry. He ignored it for the time being and said, "If anyone, and I mean anyone, tries to Apparate into this place, can you put a stop to it?"

"Twitchet can protect this place with my magic, Master."

"So nobody can enter, but we should be able to leave if need be, you understand?"

"Yes, Master."

Harry smiled at Twitchet in a gesture of apology. "Thank you."

She refused to acknowledge his olive branch and disappeared. Harry sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. He was doing that quite often now. He looked up at Demelza. "I think it's better for you and me if you stay here."

"I'm not staying with you," said Demelza hotly.

Harry let out a breath in annoyance. "Well, too bad. That Death Eater saw you and me. Now, I can't let you off unless I erase your memories of me and this place from your mind. I'd bet you wouldn't want that."

While it was true that Harry did not want to let her off without erasing her memories, he did not know how to erase memories anyway. But Demelza didn't need to know that.

"Trust me, I'd rather forget," muttered Demelza too quietly, clearly not meant for Harry's ears. He heard her, nonetheless.

She angrily plopped onto the single moth-eaten couch and tucked her legs beneath her, glaring at the fireplace.

Harry, with his leg in a cast, gingerly made his way to the other side of the couch and sank into it gratefully, closing his eyes.

He was buggered. Vol—You-Know-Who must know now that Harry was not protected under the Fidelius. He would actively begin searching for Harry.

Harry was of half a mind to go back home, but he knew it would not solve anything. He would be safe — perhaps too safe — as Sirius would not want to let him out of his sight again; not after this.

Harry had no choice but to move fast. He needed to find the other Horcruxes, besides the one still tucked safely into his shirt. He was suddenly aware of it, an ever present coldness on his chest and a stark reminder of what needed to be done.

To find the Horcruxes and to…

"…find Harry Potter," hissed a voice, cold enough that the air itself felt chilly. "Are you telling me that you spotted him in a Muggle hospital?"

"He speaks nonsense, my Lord," intercepted another voice, silkily. "Potter is under the Fidelius with his godfather. Black is overprotective to a fault. He would not have let him out of his sight…"

"My Lord, I am absolutely certain!" grunted Greyback. "It was Harry Potter. He had an injured leg, but he immediately Disapparated with the girl."

"And you let him slip through your fingers, even when you had the element of surprise. Perhaps, now you realize why you will never be part of my Death Eaters."

The man was bowed. "My Lord…"

"Send out the news," the cold voice snapped sharply. "I want the Potter boy found on all costs. And I want him alive."

Someone was shaking him and Harry awoke to find Demelza, looking at him worriedly. He blinked and he was sure he had been imagining the worry in her eyes as she seemed still upset.

"You talk in your sleep," she pointed out.

"I've been told."

Harry groaned as he rubbed his neck. He had slept on the couch. It had been so long since he had done that. And now he realized why he hated it.

"You wouldn't wake up when Twitchet tried to get you up to your bed," said Demelza in answer to his groan, folding up a blanket. Harry realized she had likely slept on the floor all night.

So that meant it was morning already.

"You could have taken the bed then, instead of the floor," suggested Harry calmly, even though his mind was buzzing in mild panic.

"I'm not exactly invited here, am I?" she said, incensed.

Harry sighed. "Look, can we please forget whatever has happened and move on? We're stuck here, so we can at least try to be civil."

Demelza did not acknowledge his words and Harry wondered how he was going to handle Dumbledore's mission with unwanted company. That was never part of his plan.

"I need a shower."

Harry glanced at Demelza, who was the one refusing to meet his eyes now. "You can use the bathroom in the room upstairs."

"I know you said I can use magic, but I'd rather not," said Demelza. "Not after last night. Can you call for your house-elf? I need some help with laundering my clothes."

"Laundering… oh, of course," said Harry, slapping his forehead. "I'd help you get something from a Muggle store, but I can't exactly walk around the streets at the moment. Here," he said, pulling out a clean t-shirt from his rucksack. "You can use mine for now."

Demelza took the shirt from him without a word, before turning about and heading up the stairs.

Harry decided that she could stay here for now, at least, until he had made up his mind on what he was going to do next.

Besides, it had been horribly lonely for the past few weeks.

oOo

Monday, September 8

"So, now what?"

The Combe of the Abbotts was quiet today. It was to be expected – all of its inhabitants were out today on a mission. Some of the Order members, namely, Proudfoot, Percy and Kingsley were busy at the Ministry as were the rest of the Order who could not make it due to their own personal errands.

It was one of those days where Sirius found himself alone in the delightful company of Hestia.

"Well, we do need an audience," answered Sirius, messing with the dials of the Wireless in front of him.

"Kingsley and Proudfoot should have informed at least some of the people we know by now?" asked Hestia, who sat to his left on the dining table.

"I'm told the Weasleys have helped spread the word too," said Sirius. "Bill is working in Gringotts and Charlie is temporarily working at the Ministry's dragon conservatory division. Both of them should have a lot of contacts, I reckon."

She nodded and watched while Sirius tuned into the right channel. There was only static and Sirius turned down the volume.

"And now, we wait," said Sirius, leaning back on his chair. "Where's that house-elf got to?"

Kenny, the house-elf, appeared right on cue, carrying a tray laden with a silver teapot and scones with jam and cream.

"Kreacher sure could take some lessons from you," said Sirius, appreciatively. "What's tea without scones? Thank you, Kenny."

The elf bowed before vanishing when Hestia asked him, "How is your house-elf doing now? Away from your mother's house, that is."

Sirius threw up his hands. "I've been proven right all along. That place makes you go barmy! He's pretty much alright now, I s'pose. Nowhere near Kenny, but getting there."

Hestia snickered, then broke into laughter.

"What's so amusing?" asked Sirius, smirking.

Hestia shot him down swiftly, "It's nothing."

"Come on, tell me," coaxed Sirius.

"It wasn't amusing at all to be honest."

"But it made you laugh," pointed out Sirius.

Hestia smiled. "A lot of things make me laugh."

The sentence was left hanging and the silence was growing heavy. Sirius jerked his head up, breaking the moment. "Tea?"

Hestia let out a sigh and Sirius wondered if he was imagining the relief in it when she said, "Please."

Sirius poured a cup of tea for each of them and the two spent a moment simply in silence before he ventured, "How is your research coming along?"

"Well," said Hestia, her expression tightening, "I haven't exactly had time to spare, what with everything that's happened this past month."

Sirius closed his eyes and swore under his breath. "Ah, bugger. I didn't realize—"

"It's okay, Sirius."

Sirius was happy to note her face softening again. "Well, if you do need help with something," he began, "I'd be glad to help."

Hestia scoffed and rolled her eyes, albeit good naturedly. "If you become an expert overnight in advanced potions and its effects on human transfiguration, do let me know."

A smirk touched his lips. "You're talking to the bloke who decided he would become an Animagus when he was fifteen just for the heck of it."

There was a moment when Hestia's eyes widened slightly. But the smile was still on her face when she said slowly as if it had just occurred to her. "Now why didn't I remember that?'

"That's entirely understandable," conceded Sirius, lifting a shoulder in a shrug. "I'm not some bastion of knowledge in the academic field, am I?"

Hestia sat down her cup of tea, curiosity alight in her blue eyes. "If it weren't for Azkaban, would you have been?"

Sirius was slightly thrown off and he too, put down his cup. "I…" he trailed off, staring at the plate of scones before shaking his head, "I don't know honestly."

"You and your friends must have known it wasn't possible to be in the Order forever?" she pressed gently. "You must have had something going?"

Sirius would be hard-pressed to realize those ambitions now anyway.

"James always wanted to become a professional Quidditch player," said Sirius, fondly and with the hope of distracting her. "Captain of England, that's what he wanted. And he would have done it too, that git. Never seen a better Chaser in my life."

Hestia was watching him with rapt attention.

Had she always looked that mesmerizing when she was looking at him? He almost didn't hear what she said next. "And what did you want to do?"

"Nothing that was possible then," said Sirius, honestly. "Not when I had just been disowned and, not to mention, with a war going around us."

She hummed noncommittally and broke away from his gaze when Sirius smirked. "I'm beginning to think you enjoy these little discussions with me."

"I think the word I'd use is 'put up with'," countered Hestia. "And I do think you should give it a thought again. Whatever you had in mind, before."

Sirius was quick to point out, "There's a war going on now too."

"Yes," nodded Hestia with some sadness before a smile crept into her voice. "Some things are out of our hands, aren't they? But, I have a feeling it will be over soon this time."

"What makes you say that?"

Hestia spoke with some level of uncertainty, "I just feel like there's more hope this time."

Sirius' smile fell off his face and he closed his eyes in frustration. "If you're talking about Harry—"

Hestia shook her head, frowning. "I didn't mean—"

The static in the Wireless began to crackle and a tinny voice counted down.

Sirius spoke over her, "You know I've had enough of hearing all that rubbish about—"

"I meant you, Sirius!" snapped Hestia.

Sirius was gazing open mouthed at her, completely taken aback while the voice of Lee Jordan grew clearer.

"Three. Two. One. Hello and welcome to our first ever broadcast of… err— we're still deciding on a name for this channel, folks."

Someone laughed in the background and Lee continued, "Anyway, this is your local nameless news station for now and we will be uncovering truth from lies…"

Hestia reached forward and turned up the volume, effectively snapping Sirius out of his trance. He could hardly understand what Lee was saying, not when Hestia pointedly looked away from him, her pale cheeks flushed visibly even in the dim candlelight.

Sirius tuned himself in to whatever Lee was saying, lest he completely lose track of him.

"…My name is River and I will be your host this evening. We have a few other contributors and we shall take you through what is exactly happening in our country in the next ten minutes. So if you're having dinner, bear with me. I'm hungry too as we've been working tirelessly to get this program up and running for the better part of the evening…"

Hestia snickered and even Sirius cracked a smile. No doubt Lee was the best pick to host this program.

"…main motive is to let our listeners in on the current affairs of our Ministry, which is directly being led by the Death Eaters themselves. That's right people, our Minister is not who he seems. In fact, we have some startling evidence that Pius Thickness has been under the Imperius even before he was chosen to be the Minister for Magic.

"We can clearly see the Death Eaters' hand in the newly drafted Muggleborn Registration Commission. We have learnt from a trusted source that Muggleborn children who boarded the Hogwarts Express on September the first have been prevented from entering Hogwarts and have been taken to Azkaban instead. This is a clear indication that if any of you were to turn yourself over to the Muggleborn Registration Commission for the prescheduled hearing, you are headed straight to Azkaban. There is no other choice but to pack your bags up, get your family and go into hiding, effective immediately…"

Hestia muttered, "That doesn't sound very reassuring."

"But it's necessary," said Sirius. "We cannot possibly expect every single one of them to fight. Rather stay safe than dead."

The program proceeded for a good ten minutes and even Remus made an appearance as Romulus, urging their listeners to take precautionary safety measures around their homes.

It ended on a positive note with Lee asking their listeners to tune in next fortnight.

"And the password is Diggle. Keep checking the airwaves for our next broadcast and meanwhile, stay safe."

The channel reverted to static again and Sirius turned down the volume.

"Well, that was a good start," beamed Hestia. "I just wish more people get to access it."

"You can let everyone you know and trust with the password," suggested Sirius. "The more people who know about it, the better, even though," he added, scratching his newly shaven cheek, "it will probably make us rather bigger targets than we already are."

"The Death Eaters can't possibly know it was us?"

"Really? Who do you reckon would have the audacity to do what we're doing?"

"You have a point," agreed Hestia. "I'd bet they would say it was us, even if it really wasn't us."

Sirius snorted. "Too right you are."

They were just finishing the last of their scones and tea when the rest of the Order arrived.

"Great job, you two!" exclaimed Sirius on seeing Fred and George, who were beaming like kids in a candy shop. "Everything went without a hitch."

"Lee was great too," said Oliver Wood, clapping a hand on the former's shoulder, who beamed.

Everyone sat around the table, ecstatic about their success for the day and just casually chatting with each other. Sirius was speaking to Remus, Tonks and Catherine, making sure they would find another location to transmit from. He didn't want Death Eaters even getting a whiff of their activity.

Percy and Proudfoot came by, eagerly sharing news of their friends and relatives who could tune in to them that evening. Edmund Abbott and Kingsley were the last to arrive and Sirius snapped up as soon as he saw their grave expressions.

"We bring both good and bad news," said Edmund, shrugging off his hat and taking a chair. The atmosphere darkened immediately, all chattering coming to a halt.

"Bad news first," said Tonks, worrying her lip.

Kingsley looked at Sirius apologetically, which was enough to raise his worry and anger when he did not speak immediately. Kingsley unfurled a rolled up Prophet and handed it to Sirius, who frowned taking it from him.

He was sure his heart had skipped a beat when he saw Harry's face all over the front page with the headlines: HARRY POTTER WANTED FOR QUESTIONING.

Sirius skimmed through the paper, unaware of Remus and Tonks peering over his shoulder to look at the paper.

"The Minister for Magic, Pius Thicknesse, had ordered an official summons to Harry Potter, privately on Saturday, for questioning regarding the death of Albus Dumbledore. Mr. Potter was the last person to see Albus Dumbledore before his death and the Ministry had signed and delivered a summons to interrogate Mr. Potter, to no response. He was apprehended by a Hit Wizard in a muggle hospital in London on Friday, but Potter attacked the Hit Wizard and escaped the scene. He is now classified a fugitive and an entire team of Aurors are on the lookout for the escaped Potter, whose actions make him guilty until proven otherwise.

The Daily Prophet urges its readers to contact the Ministry immediately if Mr. Potter is sighted. Any witch or wizard in association with Harry Potter, will also be considered a suspect and tried on court, as ordered by the Head Auror, Geoffrey Denner.

Undesirable Number One believed to have aided Potter in his escape (read more on Page 2)."

Sirius' head was buzzing. Harry had been found! Why was he in a muggle hospital? What did they mean they wanted to question Harry? Everyone knows it was bloody Snivellus!

He felt Tonks' hand on his shoulder and he could hear everyone talking about it around him, but he could not quite look away from Harry's face staring at him from the newspaper.

"Hit Wizards are looking for Harry?" asked Lee incredulously. "Since when? We never heard of anything like that!"

"That's a cover up," said Kingsley, drawing everyone's attention. "As far as I'm aware, the Auror Department never issued a summons to Potter, nor did they have Hit Wizards after him. They would be stupid to do that anyway. Everyone knows he was with Sirius. If what I guess is right, I imagine it was a Snatcher."

"What's that?" asked Ron, curiously.

"It's what they call the wizards who are not quite Death Eaters, but still work under them. They are the 'Hit Wizards' the Prophet speaks of. They are assigned under Thicknesse to enforce the Taboo Curse."

"So," said Hermione, putting two and two together. "Harry must have spoken aloud You-Know-Who's name?"

Kingsley beamed appreciatively. "Precisely."

Ron grinned at Hermione, who blushed, unable to handle the open appreciation of Kingsley as well as the others.

"Well, what's the good news?" asked Tonks and Sirius looked up at Kingsley who caught his gaze. When Kingsley spoke, there was a measure of relief. "Potter is alive."

Cheers erupted around him, but Sirius could not join in. Not when his godson was out there, on the run from the entire Ministry.

Remus was quick to note Sirius' lack of enthusiasm. "He's fine, Sirius."

Sirius shook his head. "No, he isn't." He could not help but fixate on only one detail that everyone seemed to have missed. Why was Harry in a muggle hospital in the first place?

oOo