Chapter Three.
Perfect Day.

Harry was standing alone in a dark hallway. The only lights were coming from the candles on the shelves above him. To his left and right were several doors. A voice came from a room far away. "Harry you must go it is not safe here" Harry's heart pounded. That was Unmistakeably Dumbledore's voice. He sounded so far away. He must be around here somewhere Harry thought. "Professor Dumbledore?" he called. No answer. Harry called for several more minutes but still no one answered. He began to walk down the hallway opening the doors one by one. Inside each one was the same thing, another hallway and more doors. Dumbledore has to be somewhere but this is impossible Harry thought. All the candles suddenly burnt out. He heard footsteps coming toward him. "Professor" he called again standing in the hallway frantically looking around into the darkness.

"It's me Potter and Dumbledore can't save you now" spat Snape. Harry knew it was Snape as soon as he had spoken. "Avada kedavra!" green light came rushing towards Harry as he yelled.

Harry opened his eyes. Just another dream he told himself rubbing his forehead, which was burning slightly. He lay in bed for a few minutes thinking about last night's events. When himself, Ron and Hermione had arrived at the Burrow, Mrs Weasley had made them go straight to bed telling them they would talk in the morning. No one had seemed to be there except Mr and Mrs Weasley but Harry guessed various members of the order were around. He reached over for his glasses and put them on. Ron was still asleep in the bed next to his. The bedroom door opened slightly and creaked. Harry turned his head to see who it was and saw Hermione's head peering round the door.

"Oh good your awake" she walked in the room and sat on the end of Harry's bed. "Happy birthday" she smiled handing him a present that looked like it was going to be a book. Harry took it from her and ripped off the wrapping paper. In gold writing it said "Defence against the dark arts for the advanced" it was very thick and heavy with a black cover. "I thought you could use something like this" Hermione said.

"Your right there, thanks Hermione" Hermione picked up a pillow and threw it at Ron.

"Ron get up!" she said loudly. Ron moved slightly rolling over in his bed.

"Hermione…you really think so?" Ron snored again.

"I think he's dreaming Hermione, and uh…you're in it" Harry laughed sitting up in his bed. Hermione turned pink but looked slightly pleased with herself. Ron rolled over again and gave a loud snore and then opened his eyes.

"Mornin arry" he yawned. "Happy Birthday" he said tossing a present onto Harry's bed. Ron sat up and looked at Harry.

"Have a nice dream Ron?" Hermione asked innocently smiling at Ron. Harry snorted trying not to laugh whilst opening Ron's present. It was a huge box of chocolate frogs and a decoy detonator. Harry remembered seeing these when he'd visited Fred and Georges joke shop. They created a diversion when you needed one. Ron stared at Hermione just noticing she was there. His ears went slightly red.

"Hermione what do you mean? What're you laughing at Harry?"

"Oh nothing Ron you were talking in your sleep that's all." Hermione grinned mischievously. Ron opened his mouth to say something back and then closed it again. He quickly changed the subject.

"The wedding's in a few days, I think Fleur's parents are arriving the day before. And her sister. Dunno where they're all staying though" Ron said reaching for one of Harry's chocolate frogs, ripping off the paper and stuffing it in his mouth. Harry was quite looking forward to the wedding. He had never seen a wizard wedding before but he had been told it wasn't really that different from a muggle one. Except for the odd bit of magic here and there. He expected the after party to be a bit like the Yule Ball had been.

"And Percy?" Hermione asked moving forwards on the bed.

"Not coming" Ron said. Harry thought he heard Ron mumble under his breath something that sounded like 'Stupid git'. "Charlie's coming a day before the wedding though, Bill's best man. Couldn't leave Romania before that, dragon got loose or something" Ron stuffed another chocolate frog into his mouth. "Let's get some breakfast…im starving"

As Harry entered the kitchen he saw Ginny sitting at the table. The three of them sat down with her and two seconds later Mrs Weasley served plates of eggs, sausages and bacon onto the table. "Good morning you three, hope you all slept well" Mrs Weasley was walking around the kitchen flicking her wand doing different things at once. Ginny smiled at Harry who smiled back from opposite the table.

"Where are Fred and George?" Harry asked, putting a sausage into his mouth.

"They had to leave early to open the shop" Ginny replied.

CRACK! Mr Weasley had appeared in the kitchen, he didn't look too happy. He looked at Mrs Weasley and started to talk. Sitting down at the table with the others. "I've just been with Minerva discussing last nights events and she is more angry than I've ever seen her" Harry listened intently.

"Who was on duty?" Mrs Weasley said handing a plate of food to Mr Weasley.

"Shacklebolt, Takard and Eccledon" He replied. Mrs Weasley gasped.

"And what's their story?"

"Well, Shacklebolt was ambushed, says they came out of nowhere. He was trying to fight off three at the same time. Eccledon...he says he turned his back for a second and was knocked unconscious, doesn't remember a thing after that." Mr Weasley paused. "Takard was with him, she says she was fighting two more of them" Harry was confused.

"Mr Weasley, is this what happened last night?" Harry asked him.

"Yes Harry, total shambles. Since the order lost Dumbledore and Snape…everyone's been...rather disorganised. Minerva sends her deepest apologies to all three of you. Although, she's not the one that should be apologising"

"And who's Takard and Eccledon?" Hermione said.

"New members of the order, Julian Eccledon. He's an auror. Newly hired at the ministry and Isabella Takard also an auror. The ministry is hiring a lot of people to be auror's at the moment" Mr Weasley told them.

Crack! Two more people appeared in the kitchen. A man and a woman. The man was tall, Harry guessed in about his late twenties. He had longish dark hair that went over his eyes. He wore black tattered robes. Harry then looked at the woman; the first thing that struck him was that she was very pretty. She had long dark hair, lighter than the man's. She looked also in her late twenties. Harry couldn't be sure though.

"What are you doing here?" Mr Weasley asked getting up from his seat.

"We can't stay very long at all. Minerva isn't finished with us yet" The man replied taking a glance at Harry and walking over to the table. "Julian Eccledon, pleasure to meet you, I know who you are of course" He held out his hand and Harry shook it.

"And this is my son, Ron" Mr Weasley pointed at Ron, "And his friend Hermione. Ginny you've met" Harry guessed the woman was Isabella Takard. She wasn't speaking though she was standing next to Eccledon.

"Me and Isabella come to give our apologies to the three of you. We are very sorry about what happened" Eccledon said. His voice was very deep.

"Yes, terribly sorry" Isabella spoke in a business like manor. Neither Harry, Ron or Hermione replied. Harry thought they probably felt like him. That apologies made no difference and people were dead because they didn't do their job properly.

"That is supposed to make up for the lives that were lost is it?" Mrs Weasley snapped at them. "Where's Kingsley?"

"Kingsley has been sent somewhere on orders from Minerva. He told us to tell you he sends his apologies and that when he see's you he will apologise himself" Isabella spoke again. She looked like she felt very bad about what happened.

"Right, good" Mrs Weasley said disapprovingly. "Don't keep Minerva waiting then, off you go"

"I'm sure we will see each other again" Eccledon said to them. Two seconds later they were both gone. The rest of the day went by quickly. They saw various members of the order. Moody, Tonks and Lupin. None of them stayed long, some other members were trying to work on further protection for the Burrow. When Fred and George returned, Harry, Hermione and the Weasley's went outside for a game of quidditch. Fred Harry and Hermione against Ron George and Ginny. They swapped the teams after each game as whichever team had Hermione had the disadvantage. Ron hadn't hesitated to point this out. They played for hours until dinner was ready. Harry loved being back on a broomstick and felt very happy when they were playing. Harry Ron and Hermione were sat at the table in the kitchen, when an owl tapped at the window. Hermione jumped up when she saw it and opened the window to let in.

"Whose owl is that?" Ron said.

"I dunno, whose it for Hermione?" Harry asked her.

Hermione grabbed the letter from the owl and stuffed it quickly in her pocket. "Oh, its just a letter from mum and dad asking how i am" she said looking anxious and sitting back down.

"Let us see it then" Ron demanded.

"No, why do you need to see it anyway? Why would i lie about who its from?" Hermione said quickly her head down making sure she didn't look at Ron. Harry thought he knew who it must be from but he wasn't too sure.

"Hermione let me see it" Ron demanded again.

"Ron stop being so nosey all the time, I don't have to tell you everything" Hermione snapped.

Harry didn't want to be in the middle of this fight. "Uh…I think I might just go to now bed im kinda tired" Harry told them and quickly walked out of the kitchen, hearing their voices get louder and louder. He walked up to Ron's room and got changed. Just as he was getting into bed he heard someone open the door. He whipped round to see who it was. "Ginny" He said as his heart leapt. She walked over to him and kissed him softly. Harry put his arms around her kissing her back. She pulled away. Why did she do that Harry thought?

"Happy Birthday Harry" Ginny said and slowly left the room leaving Harry feeling confused.