Chapter 3 – She has to find out

Death Eaters Escape – Magic Community Be Constantly Alert

The Ministry of Magic had even more than usual on their minds last night, as the ten Death Eaters that have been held in Azkaban for over a year escaped last night. No one knows how they escaped, but we all know why. Now that He Who Must Not Be Named has all of his followers with him again, and with the unfortunate death of Albus Dumbledore last month, the wizarding community must be on their guard at all times, never go out alone, be sure to have security fully-checked. These Death Eaters were imprisoned last year for attempting to steal a prophecy believing to concern Harry Potter and He Who Must Not Be Named, although the current whereabouts and contents of this prophecy is unknown, it is believed that...

Harry was forced to look up from the Daily Prophet at this point, because of a loud tapping noise from his window. Having finally finished shoving all of his stuff back into his trunk, Harry had picked up a copy of the Daily Prophet that had been delivered earlier that day, and opened it to find some very interesting news. Looking up from this disturbing news, Harry saw that the source of the tapping noise was Hedwig at the window, he hastily rose from his bed to open the window, this would be the reply from Ron he had been anxiously waiting for (before he saw the Daily Prophet headline that is!). He undid the latch on his window, and Hedwig flew in landing on the perch in her cage with her leg outstretched for Harry to take off the letter. Harry unrolled the parchment and closed the cage. The letter said,

Harry,

This is a major glitch in the plan, but, after talking to the Order, we think we have a solution.

As you have probably guessed, this is not Ron, it is his dad, and the Order are right here with me as I write this – or, the members of the Order who are coming to collect you anyway – we have contacted Rufus Scrimgeour, and he agrees that this is the only way.

Harry, you have to tell your Aunt Marge that you're a wizard, that way we can Apparate in, and then Apparate out, quickly, however, one of us will remain behind to mind-wipe Aunt Marge before Apparating, therefore, she won't remember a thing, and if she asks, your Aunt and Uncle can say she fell asleep, too exhausted from the journey.

Hope you are well. Happy Birthday from all of the Order, Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

Hoping to see you soon

Arthur Weasley

Harry had to read this letter through several times before what he had to do sunk in. Tell Aunt Marge of the wizarding world, she would never believe him, she thought he was a lying criminal, but she would believe Uncle Vernon, her own brother, well, she would either believe him, or say he was insane and they would never see her again, so it was really a win-win situation – for him anyway. If all went according to plan, she wouldn't remember any of this anyway, so it really didn't matter. Harry took a quick glance at the clock, it was all he had time for, it was already ten to ten, the Order would be arriving in ten minutes! And, from the sound of things, the Order were going to Apparate now instead, they weren't going to use Floo Powder like they had originally decided, they would appear without warning out of thin air! Harry had to tell Uncle Vernon now! Harry grabbed Hedwig and his trunk and dragged them out of his room (or, his old room as we should call it now!). He got to the top of the stairs, careful to not make too much noise with his trunk, Harry crept down the top 5 steps, stopping to pear through the banister, luck was on his side, the kitchen door was open, meaning he could see if Aunt Marge was facing him, which she wasn't, she had her back turned to him, and was so busy in her own conversation, she wouldn't notice if he started trying to distract Uncle Vernon. Harry carried on down the rest of the steps, walked across the first part of the hall, and left his stuff in the doorway of the living room, and proceeded to get Uncle Vernon's attention. Luckily, Uncle Vernon was facing Harry, so it didn't take much to get his attention. Uncle Vernon, (already knowing that something would have to be done to get rid of Harry with Marge there) excused himself to the toilet, shutting the door on his way out and meeting Harry halfway down the hall.

"Well boy, what are we going to do? And why have you bought that..that..stuff down here? You know Marge can't see it!" He said in what was obviously as close to a whisper as he could get, but was really a very hoarse groan.

"Relax, I wrote to the Order, and they've come up with a plan, this is what we do..." replied Harry. He whispered the plan to Uncle Vernon, ignoring the frequent grunts coming from his Uncle. After he was done, Uncle Vernon had a few things to say about it,

"WHAT! That's insane! That's crazy! That's..."

"The only way to get me out of here for good." Finished Harry, he would normally have let Uncle Vernon rant on, and then tell him when he was done, instead of interrupting, but this was an emergency, and it's not like his Uncle could do anything to him, he would be gone in five minutes. "It's not like Aunt Marge will even remember any of this, she'll be mind-wiped the very second I leave." Harry could tell from his Uncle's face, that he was desperately searching for an way out of this plan, but was relieved when his face turned a very dark shade of magenta, meaning that he couldn't find one.

"Alright, I guess we'll have to tell her." he said. And with that, he led the way back into the kitchen, Harry following closely behind.

"And that's when I said to him...Oh, it's you." said Marge as Harry walked in, giving him a look of deepest loathing, which he returned.

"Yes Marge, he's still here, but not for much longer. He is leaving in about one minute, which means that I have to rush what I have got to tell you, so I will just get straight to the point." At this point, Uncle Vernon paused for a deep intake of breath, and taking in the shocked and nervous glances he was receiving from both Dudley and Aunt Petunia, before exhaling and saying, "Marge, Harry is a w- Harry is a wiz- Harry is a wizard." A stunned silence filled the room at these words, you could have dropped a piece of string, and it would have echoed as it hit the floor. Naturally, Marge was the one to break the silence,

"Don't be silly Vernon," she said in what was more than a whisper, but easy enough to hear. She was obviously in shock about her brother saying such a thing. "That's crazy, I know the boy is extremely odd, but he can't be a-"

POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP! POP!

This sound echoed through the house. Aunt Petunia screamed and dropped her tea, the cup was left to smash on the floor, and no one bothered to pick it up, because they were all searching for the source of the noise, apart from Harry, because he had recognised that sound in an instant. It was the sound of wizards Apparating or Disapparating, and since there were no wizards – apart from him – who could Disapparate, he knew it had to be the Order. And, sure enough, when he went into the living room, there was Kingsley Shacklebolt, Remus Lupin, Alastor (Mad-Eye) Moody, Nymphadora Tonks (or Tonks as she preferred to be known) and the rest of his Advance guard, who he had met two years previously. Remus Lupin was the first to greet him,

"Great to see you again Harry!" he said, shaking him by the hand, "And, Happy Birthd-"

CRASH!

A huge gust of wind and dust filled the living room, as the front door was blown off it's hinges, Harry's trunk and Hedwig (remember she is locked in her cage) flew into the air, landing at Harry and Lupin's feet, and standing in the entrance to the living room, were the very last people Harry and the Order wanted to see. Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

"Ahhh, Harry Potter. We meet again, and for what will be the last time." drawled Voldemort in his high, cold voice. He obviously hadn't noticed the Order, which was good for them, because it gave them a minute to take advantage of the situation,

"REDUCTO!" shouted Moody, he was aiming above the archway of the living room entrance, and it was a direct hit, the wall fell in front of Voldemort and his Death Eaters – they had moved back just in time. Moody then belted out his orders to his comrades.

"Remus, take Harry, Tonks, get Harry's stuff, everyone else, get the Dursleys and everyone Apparate, you know where," he shouted amongst all the chaos. Harry felt Lupin's hand close tightly around his upper-arm,

"Hold on tight Harry," he said. Harry felt a sudden jerk catch him from behind, and knew Lupin had started Apparating, he held on with all of his might, while trying to ignore the agony that he knew would come. The last thing he heard was Voldemort's cry of "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" And then came the pain, Harry felt as though his eyeballs were going to burst out of their sockets, his lungs were going to burst from lack of oxygen, and just when he was about to give himself up for lost, it stopped. He felt his feet hit solid ground (or as solid as grass can be anyway!) and fresh air hit his face, as he gazed up at his one favourite place in the entire world, The Burrow.

"Get your filthy hands off me, let go of me I say!" Harry spun around on the spot, for he new that angry voice, he had heard it all too often during the last 16 years of his life. Because of Voldemort and the Death Eaters turning up, the Order had had no choice, but to take the Dursleys with them!